JANELLE STRAWSBURG
Staff Writer
It’s a bright spring afternoon. The sun is warming the skin, the smell of grilled hot dogs is in the air and the most beautiful sound in the world breaks the silence. Crack! More than 180 pounds of muscle powers a swing that rockets a baseball not soaring over the wall in dead center field, but rather shooting over the Waves’ dugout straight into the second row of the stands.
Dad is yelling “Heads up!” while mom is screaming, children are running and nachos are flying, all as a 87-mph fastball comes ricocheting to the impending turmoil of all. OK, maybe the scene is not that dramatic, but any dedicated fan sitting down at Pepperdine’s Eddy D. Field Stadium has at least one story of a near brush with a foul ball.
But fear no more because coming next week, the stadium will have a new backstop that will not only let fans breathe easy but also enhance the overall aesthetic appeal of what is known as the most beautiful field in the country.
“The new backstop is going to be a great addition to our field,” says Waves Head Coach Steve Rodriguez. “It’s going to eliminate a lot of the view sights that people have had issues with, and I think it is just going to better our program. I really do, because people can just sit anywhere and have a straight view at everything.”
The new backstop, described by Rodriguez as similar to the one at Dodger Stadium, consists of one solid net stretching horizontally from dugout to dugout, and vertically from home plate up to the concession stand. Designed by West Coast Netting, the new accessory to the field cost the program around $90,000, but according to the team, it was about time for the change.
“I mean, looking around you got a lot of these big poles and if you get a spot with a pole you are moving around trying to see,” said senior right fielder Don Brown. “It is going to be great for the fans and hopefully get them more involved. And also it will be covering the whole stands where before if you were in a certain section you might be in the danger zone and you might get whacked upside the head so you kind of had to watch out.”
Foul balls are not the only thing Waves fans should be watching out for this spring. Keep an eye out for fashion with the brand new look the team will be sporting. Rodriguez and the team will be sporting the Under Armour flag, making them the first team in the nation to be fully sponsored by Under Armour.
Sophomore catcher Travis Tartamella is already appreciating the benefits of a corporation sponsorship.
“I think it is awesome, they got really good gear, the cleats are really nice,” he said. “We get all these new shirts, sweaters and sweats, it is pretty nice.”
According to Rodriguez, the Under Armour relationship has been developing between the company and Pepperdine for nearly 10 years. When Under Armour approached Pepperdine seeking to get into the baseball arena, it was a no-brainer for the coach and his team.
“Because Pepperdine doesn’t have a football team we don’t have a huge sponsor deal,” explained Rodriguez. “Like if you look at USC, the football team wears Nike, so everybody is Nike. Tennessee football is Adidas so everybody is Adidas. Well here, we don’t have that so we are free to go to who we like and who best fits our program.”
“Under Armour is doing everything for us. Jerseys, you name it, we are doing it, from jackets to pullovers to sweatshirts, color coordinating our spikes, and they custom fit our guys to everything so we are really excited about it.”
Last year it was a new scoreboard, this year the backstop and a fresh look. Could stadium lights be on the horizon for the field’s new and improved status?
Not this season, but it is a future project Rodriguez and the team are keeping on the radar.
“I think it would be a great thing for this campus,” Rodriguez said. “It would be great for the community to allow people to come out and bring their kids and just enjoy a day at the ballpark instead of having to drive all the way to Dodger Stadium. I think it would be a great community effort as well as help our guys in the classroom.”
For Tartamella, although playing ball looking out at the ocean is beautiful, there is just something to be said about the feeling of playing under the night sky.
“It would be awesome,” he said. “A lot of teams in our conference, around the country have lights. It is fun playing day games but there is just something about playing on a Friday night.”
The players are not the only members of the Malibu community that would benefit from the opportunity afforded by night games. Senior Darnell Brisco, who often goes to support the Waves, thinks night games might be a link towards bridging the gap between Pepperdine and the Malibu community.
“Malibu is definitely not a college town and I would say they do their best to keep it more of a housing community than a college town,” he said. “I think lights would encourage the students and the community to come to events that are low-costing and local and are a community builder. Baseball is a community sport – go to any baseball game, you’ll see.”
Senior Courtney Schreiber agrees, saying “I think there should be lights because it would give people in Malibu something to do. You could get high school kids to come out, or families to come out, and then more people would come support Pepperdine. I would definitely go to more games if they were at night.”
David Hirsch, a resident of Calabasas and father to four young children, said he would take his kids to night games if they were offered. “More community resources would be wonderful,” he said.
“I think it would most be a draw for older kids, for whom weeknights of homework, dinner, and bed times didn’t interfere with going to Pepperdine after dark.”
In the end, however, it won’t be a killer field with a stunning view that draws fans down to support these boys in blue, but rather their continued dominance in both the WCC and nationally.
“I think this year people are going to see we have a lot of really good hitters and a lot of team speed this year,” Rodriguez said. “Hopefully the pitching comes around and gets us to where we need to be but I think it is going to be a very exciting offensive team this year.”
For Brown, this year’s team will be all that is necessary to fill the stands.
“We are young, we got a lot of new guys coming in, a lot of fresh faces and also a lot of solid returnees,” he said enthusiastically. “Defense is going to be great as usual, pitching is going to be as advertised and we should be feeling great about our hitting this year. So watch out, Pepperdine Waves!”
02-14-2008