Heated fields 'game-changer' for MSU baseball, softball

EAST LANSING – The only snow Monday at Old College Field sat tucked away under the bleachers. Michigan State’s baseball and softball teams were outside practicing on a warmish day.

By Tuesday, the fields were once again white. That’s February in Michigan.

It doesn’t have to be any more.

Both McLane Baseball Stadium and Secchia Softball Stadium are guinea pigs for electrically heated infields – brought here by an MSU alum and the first in the United States – that coaches feel will help alleviate many of their sports’ springtime weather-related problems.

“I think it’s a potential game-changer for all the Big Ten schools in the north,” softball coach Jacquie Joseph said. “I think a lot of people around the country will be looking to see how this works.”

How it happened

Brian Storm, the president and CEO of Georgia-based Sports Fields, Inc., graduated from MSU in 1978 with a degree in landscape and nursery management. His company has worked on a number of fields for professional sports teams, including the playing surfaces for the Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins.

His firm helped install the heating system beneath Target Field in Minneapolis and Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Those, however, use a system of pipes and water – called hydronic heating – that run underneath the surface to gradually heat the fields.

Storm looked at what was being done on soccer fields in Europe and partnered with Dutch firm Heating Solutions International to bring their electric system to the United States. Testing it at his alma mater made sense, between the school’s innovation in turf management and his previous work with MSU’s sports turf Manager Amy Fouty.

“I said, ‘If you guys are willing, I can get the company in the Netherlands and myself to make this a showcase opportunity in this country and be the first in this country with this new technology,’” Storm said. “They bought into the idea.”

The project cost about $450,000, MSU Deputy Athletic Director Greg Ianni said, and was completed late last summer and early in the fall with the help of athletic department donors. The Spartans’ baseball team was back on the renovated field at McLane in time for an exhibition game against Air Force on Sept. 19.

The new system didn’t get its first test until January. It made believers of Boss and Joseph immediately.

How it works

McLane and Secchia stadiums now have what is called “heating ribbons” beneath their infields. There are electrical boxes located behind home plate at both venues, and they can be controlled remotely by Fouty with an iPad or by HSI in the Netherlands.

The softball infield is all dirt, so all of the ribbons are placed underneath it at the same depth. The baseball field has both grass and dirt, which required the ribbons to be installed at varying depths. Heat can be applied on the fields as a whole or only in locations where it is needed, according to HSI’s website.

Testing started in early January, with just a pathway near the baselines at McLane Stadium. The snow melted away in that spot. On Jan. 29, MSU’s baseball team took ground balls outside on the infield while the outfield remained snow-covered.

“We gradually started to turn it on. We were very careful and deliberate with it,” Boss said. “You can come out here when the snow was in the outfield and see exactly what zones were turned on. It was pretty neat to see.”

In running their early tests, the companies and the school also discovered a secondary benefit they didn’t expect – the heat can dry out wet spots as well as melt snow. That’s important during rainy spring games when the tarps are off the field.

“I’ve challenged Amy Fouty since the day she got the job. I wanted our fields to be the best in the country, and I wanted her to push the envelope on technology,” Ianni said. “She has done that.”

What it means

MSU has three primary goals for the system. The first is to help the Spartans’ baseball and softball teams to maximize outdoor time during the chilly first few months of practices. The second is to minimize potential delays for games once they return from their southern season-opening trips. A third is to make MSU a more attractive option to ball-and-glove recruits.

In 2014, the baseball team had to move its scheduled home-opening series against Ohio State to Columbus, Ohio, due to unplayable wintry conditions at McLane. The softball team shifted its first series from Secchia Stadium to Purdue.

“Forget February. February’s not really even the issue. We weren’t even out in March,” Joseph said. “I can’t tell you the number of games we lost in the month of March – a lot of games and then a lot of prep time.”

The Spartans began the softball season this weekend in Florida, while the baseball team opens its season next weekend in South Carolina. Typically, both Joseph and Boss’s players work out indoors until they head south. Between the heated infields and unseasonably warm weather this winter, they’ve already practiced outside nearly a half-dozen times. It’s a first for both teams in nearly 50 combined years of college coaching, they said.

“It was something to see ground balls off the grass and just to get out and run around and get some depth perception outside. Pitchers can throw live to hitters in a setting where it’s not in a batting cage. You just can’t replicate it,” Boss said. “These guys are used to getting ready inside. For them, the opportunity to get out here in early February is huge”

The baseball team's first game at McLane is slated for March 23 against Central Michigan. The softball team is scheduled to open at home a day later against Wisconsin. Neither team generally plays in East Lansing until April.

It could be cold. It could be warm. It could be sunny. It could be rainy.

But now there’s a better chance than ever for MSU to play those games.

“It’s invaluable for us,” Boss said.