As the beginning of the 2025 baseball season is underway for the reigning 2024 Mid-American Conference Baseball Champions, the Falcons are still practicing inside Perry Field House – something that Head Baseball Coach Kyle Hallock said gives other teams a competitive advantage.
Hallock said that their outside facility, Steller Field, is one of two fields in the conference without turf, meaning snow, mud and ice make for unplayable conditions depending on the weather.
UToledo’s baseball team, another team in BG’s division, has both a turf field and an indoor facility.
In addition to the unplayable fields, players are left at a disadvantage in terms of game prep. Conditions that normally affect the game like wind and rain, cannot be prepared for.
An estimated $2.3 million campaign was held to raise funds for a new synthetic turf field and perimeter fencing that will allow the team the ability to consistently train and compete throughout the year.
The field itself has not been renovated since it was built in 1965. However, Steller Field’s latest renovations from 2012 included new bleachers, scoreboards and backstops.
“Just leveling the playing field is priority number one, and then it allows our guys to just focus on the baseball piece rather than the field maintenance piece,” Hallock said.
BGSU’s baseball program took a hit in 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic, and the program was eliminated – a cut that was meant to be permanent, but only lasted for less than a month, from May 15 to June 8, 2020.
“Once the program was saved and brought back,” said BGSU Athletic Director Derek Van Der Merwe, “I think they started looking at this concept of going from ‘survive’ to ‘thrive.’”
In the few years since, Hallock led the team with the philosophy of thriving and transitioned to the position of head coach when the program was being reinstated. The 2024 season saw the BGSU baseball program earn an outright MAC title for the first time since 2009 and Hallock being recognized as MAC Coach of the Year.
“Success allows a lot of people to get behind it,” said Hallock. “I think [the renovations] have been in the works for this program for quite a while, but it took full speed ahead recently over this past year with the success of the 2024 team.”
One of those supporters is BGSU Board of Trustees member Paul J. Hooker, who has agreed to match gifts up to $500,000 in support of stadium renovations.
“He’s a person that became very involved in this project just over a year ago,” said Van Der Merwe, “his mission has always been enhancing the student experience.”
The field development is necessary given what the program is competing with in the conference, said Van Der Merwe.
“We need to be able to practice and get better the same way the rest of our league is,” said Hallock.
BGSU officials said the new renovations will not only benefit the university’s baseball program, but also the Bowling Green community as a whole.
Van Der Merwe said the field can be rented out to individuals or programs, and that all BGSU athletic facilities are viewed as an opportunity for high school and grade school students to compete on this campus and in our community.
“Those kids’ first impression of BGSU could be planted on a nice turf field. They may come to play baseball for us someday, they might not,” said Hallock. “Either way, their first experience at BGSU could be having a positive memory of playing in a baseball tournament over the summer.”
Hallock said while he’s excited about the benefits that the renovations have for both his team and the community, he’s also eager “to see what our logo and what all of our things look like on a piece of turf.”
The Steller Field renovations are expected to begin after the 2025 season.
“We’re closing up the bid process right now,” said Van Der Merwe. “Once that’s done, we’ll go into selection and mobilization of the project itself.”
For more information regarding “Campaign for Our Future,” click here, and for those interested in donating, click here.
