Last year, the school undertook a huge project to upgrade many facilities with new spaces, classrooms, and a new cafeteria. However, the renovation also meant that classes had to be moved out of the main building and into the learning cottages. These learning cottages received mixed reviews from students, with one group especially displeased: baseball players.
The learning cottages took over all of left field, which meant the baseball team struggled to practice and was not able to host any home games at all given that the field was unplayable for a real game. This created multiple disadvantages for the 2024 season, such as constant travel, which would tire the players and leave them with less time to focus on academics. It also meant that they had no fans or student section to cheer them on. The loss of the field was particularly difficult on the seniors, who were unable to have a senior night on their home field.
Although the 2024 season was difficult, there are exciting things in store for the 2025 season, as you can tell from the construction you see when you pull into the school. The school is now working on an upgrade to the field and stands that should result in a bigger crowd for the baseball team than in years past. As the images show, there will be a new seating area behind the plate and also new and upgraded dugouts for the players. This is a great improvement since the only seating area for the fans in the past was a single set of rickety metal bleachers behind the dugout on the first-base side. The dugout is also a huge improvement because in prior years, it was very basic and had no storage space for players’ bags, bats, or gloves.
The players are very excited about what the improvements will mean for the 2025 season. Two seniors who will be going on to play baseball in college shared their thoughts. Dickinson commit, Owen Siegel, and Trinity commit, Aiden Potholm, discussed how important these new renovations are to the team and its season this spring. Both have a strong connection to the Saints baseball program, dating all the way back to middle school. Both are also used to having problems during their baseball season. In 8th grade, their season was cut short due to Covid, and last season they were unable to play on their field because of the learning cottages. However, both expressed excitement for the upcoming season.
Potholm said that he is looking forward to a new seating area for the fans because it should mean “more people showing up to some games” since the field originally had “nowhere for people to sit if they were to come to our games.” He expects that with the new renovations, “more people will go with the nicer seating and the better looking field.”
Siegel also mentioned his hope for a wider audience, but also talked about the gameplay, talking about the improved “dimensions, we’re getting them fixed and should make for some exciting games with how the fence is oriented.”
Continuing with the topic of the player experience, when asked about why it is important to be able to have home games, Potholm said that last year he “missed the feeling of playing a home game, because it almost felt like you were playing an away conference game every week.”
Siegel also mentioned how in the 2024 season he missed having support “from our classmates and from other sports teams who are able to just walk over and watch” and said that the support “makes it fun,” showing how important showing up for your classmates is and how much it means to them.
It seems that the scope of these renovations came as a pleasant surprise, because both players recognized problems with the field but were expecting a more minor upgrade than the exciting new renovations. Siegel shared that “the grass was in the base paths, the bases weren’t lined up, and the mound was too low. So with all these things, I didn’t really know that it was gonna happen, but I definitely expected that we would be making some changes during my time here.”
Potholm shared similar dissatisfaction with the characteristics of the field, saying that “after we had the trailers on the field, I was like, okay, something’s kind of got to change. And the dirt was just rock hard. And then a few outfielders were getting sprained ankles and stuff just because of how bad the surface was, and the dimensions were just really off. Like the grass was literally on the first baseline.”
Obviously, everyone realized that some field renovations would be necessary following the departure of the learning cottages, but the extensive upgrades to the seating areas and the dugouts are a huge bonus that players were not necessarily expecting, and they will make a big difference for the 2025 season and beyond.
