JANELLE STRAWSBURG
Staff Writer
Life on the big screen. For most a dream, but for the Pepperdine baseball team, that dream will soon become a reality. Starting with Saturday’s alumni game, the season swings into gear, with a new high-tech scoreboard equipped with a Jumbotron to showcase the boys in blue.
The new Daktronics scoreboard, similar to the old one in height, has been increased by 10 feet in width to accommodate a new video screen with the capability to feature player headshots, stats, powerpoints and even play DVDs. The average 300 to 500 game attendees will be able to see extra information about their favorite Waves player. It is also equipped with the latest LED lighting. LED stands for light emitting diodes, which are tiny units that harness a semiconductor chip to transform electric energy into visible light and effectively replaces regular light bulbs.
“It’s better for baseball so a homerun ball doesn’t break a light,” said David Rhoades, associate athletic director. “It’s just newer technology that allows us more options. For example, our old scoreboard we had to put up just Guest and Waves. This one, because of the new technology, we can type in Bruins and Waves, instead of just having Guest up there.”
The price of cutting-edge technology is high, the new scoreboard totaled in at just under $300,000.
“The baseball program and Coach Rodriguez have done a great job over the years fundraising for this scoreboard,” Rhoades said. “We have a beautiful field, a great program and coaching staff, so to be able to have a scoreboard that fits right in is a good thing.”
“The scoreboard fundraising began about three years ago,” Head Coach Steve Rodriguez said. “It’s something we wanted to do, the other old scoreboard was fine. It was a great scoreboard, but it started having some mechanical difficulties. So about three years ago when I got the position here we decided we really needed to update it because a lot of schools around the country are doing the same thing. So we set out campaigning; we had a lot of fundraisers and donations from very nice people.”
One such fundraiser is the third annual Pepperdine Big League Golf Experience that teed off Monday at the Sherwood Country Club. “About a 150 people come out there, and it is a beautiful event,” Rodriguez says. “Every foursome gets to golf with a big leaguer like Garrett Anderson, Darin Erstad and other guys. It’s a lot of fun.”
Fundraisers such as this one help pay for projects such as the new scoreboard and further renovation of Eddy D. Field, renovation that keeps Pepperdine up to speed with larger universities’ athletic programs.
“The truth is it just really allows us to keep up with the Joneses, is the easy way to put it,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez continued that unlike other schools with large football teams who use big-ticket sales for improvements, Pepperdine has to work with its smaller programs to raise the money. For the new Jumbotron the money was raised specifically for its addition, taking over three years to be completed. The new scoreboard will also magnify the beauty of Pepperdine, therefore helping with recruiting future students.
The team, after hearing talk of potentially receiving a new scoreboard for the past three years, was pleasantly surprised upon returning from winter break and seeing the dark blue and orange board up over right field.
“The new scoreboard is leaps and bounds beyond our last one, and it’s so nice to have a nine by twelve Jumbotron so when we do get to pitch or get in the batter’s box we get to see ourselves up there,” junior pitcher Barry Enright said. “The field is just year by year getting better; sooner or later we’ll probably have lights and a new backscreen, the more attractions to attract more people, and hopefully we’ll get some more fans down here.”
The new scoreboard is just one step of many to further increase the appeal of Eddy D. Field for both fans and the NCAA representatives who chose where regional championship games will be hosted. New stadium seats that replaced the old original bleachers were introduced three years ago, the current scoreboard was just raised, and a new backstop and lights are in plans for the future.
However, cosmetic retouches aren’t the priority for the program, rather just a means to boost fan enjoyment and players’ confidence.
“As a player it’s just fun to know that there is somebody in your corner who is trying to make the facilities you’re playing in better,” Rodriguez said. “I think it is important for our guys to understand that we’re going to give them the best playing surface possible, whether it’s a stadium scoreboard or grass. But at the same time if they don’t play well people aren’t going to come out and watch, so that is the biggest thing for us.”
“We have a great core group of guys to start with and a lot of talent here,” Enright echoes his coach. “So hopefully we can do some great things this season.”
Fans can catch a glimpse of these great things this Saturday as the season kicks off with the annual alumni opener. With the first pitch being thrown at noon, one lucky pitcher will be the first to have his photo grace the new video screen for all of Pepperdine to see.
01-25-2007