UPDATE, 3/15/07: Thursday’s Goshen College baseball game against Concordia University has been cancelled due to inclement weather, the school announced Thursday morning.
After temperatures in the mid 60’s on Wednesday, Goshen received nearly two inches of snow overnight, rendering the Goshen College Baseball Complex unplayable.
The game — originally scheduled to be played at Concordia — was moved to Goshen earlier in the week due to poor field conditions at the Cardinals’ home stadium. As of Thursday, no plans have been set to make up the contest.
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Goshen, IN — The home portion of Goshen’s 2007 spring schedule was moved up considerably on Wednesday, as Thursday’s game at Concordia University was re-scheduled to the Goshen College Baseball Complex.
Goshen will now host the Cardinals in a single, nine-inning contest at 4 p.m. Thursday afternoon. The Leafs’ originally scheduled home opener was slated for Mar. 22 against Mid-Central Conference foe Spring Arbor University.
The schedule change — necessitated by Concordia’s poor field conditions — allows the Leafs an earlier opportunity to play on a home field that underwent major renovations over the summer. Contracted workers changed virtually everything inside the fences at the stadium, pushing the infield closer to the backstop while completely re-working the playing surface.
“We're really excited about the improvements that have been made to our facility,” said Josh Keister, Goshen head coach. “Our short centerfield fence at 365 feet has been a frustration for us for some time, but now it is more legitimate at 380. Now instead of playing small our field plays quite big with the alley's being 398 and the lines 330. We are also excited about the new infield surface. It played really nicely this fall with the ball staying down and taking truer hops both on the grass and dirt portions of the infield.”
Despite less than stellar weather over the past few weeks, Goshen was able to host Thursday’s game due to the purchase of a full-infield tarp, a major investment given the normal weather conditions in Northern Indiana during the spring months.
Other off-season facility improvements included a new home bullpen area as well as an enclosed visitor's bullpen with direct access to the field.
“I really feel that these improvements were necessary to help take our program to the next level,” Keister said. “I would now consider our outdoor facility to be on par with the rest of the conference in addition to the indoor facility in the Roman Gingerich Center which is already one of the best around.”
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