Coastal Carolina moves forward on $10.2 million baseball/softball project

CONWAY -- Coastal Carolina baseball coach Gary Gilmore said he was still pinching himself Wednesday as the university took another big step toward a $10.2 million renovation project for the Chanticleers’ baseball and softball stadiums.

The university announced that it has received approval from the state of South Carolina, including finalized architectural renderings, to move forward on the project with construction expected to begin in September and be completed in time for the 2014 season.

“It’s an unbelievable day in the history of Coastal Carolina baseball,” Gilmore said. “Obviously [for] me personally, it’s been something I’ve been dreaming about since the day I walked in here – what this place might actually look like and become one day hopefully.”

The renovations will include the building of new grandstands, restrooms, concession stands, coaches offices, locker rooms and lounges for the players, team meeting space, training rooms, media areas, laundry facilities and will also include new “state-of-the-art” scoreboards.

The Chants’ baseball stadium will expand from its current 850 seats to a 33,000-square-foot facility expected to include 2,500 permanent chairback seats and have an overall capacity of 5,000 to 6,000 spectators for marquee games through grass berms along the right and left field lines where fans can lounge. A boardwalk around the outfield wall will also allow people to walk around the stadium with a view of the game.

The softball stadium, which currently holds 300 people, is projected at 9,000 square feet and will have a seating capacity of 500 with extra room for fans in the outfield.

“I think when you combine either the new baseball stadium or the new softball stadium with the hitting facility that we already have in place, we’re giving both of those programs the nicest training and competitive complex in the country, in my opinion,” CCU athletic director Hunter Yurachek said.

“There’s not a hitting facility like ours anywhere in the country. The two venues aren’t going to be the biggest baseball or softball venues in the country, but they’re going to be first-class and as nice as they can be, and I will put those facilities paired with the hitting facility up against any in the country. I think it’s going to give us a tremendous recruiting advantage for both of those programs.”

The $1.2 million hitting facility behind the outfield wall of Watson Stadium was completed last year, and Gilmore echoed Yurachek’s sentiments.

“It will be a great recruiting thing for us, an opportunity to be way more competitive with the ACC, SEC schools with facilities,” he said. “I think in baseball we’ll have one of the top 20 setups in the whole country here. And that’s an unbelievable statement to be able to make that during a career you see these things happen and come to fruition. I still have to pinch myself. I’ll still be waiting for that bulldozer to knock the first things down and actually get some things moving.”

Both Gilmore and Yurachek expressed their appreciation for Tami Springs-Brooks, the widow of CCU football benefactor Bob Brooks, who provided the lead gift for the project. Yurachek would not reveal the specifics of that donation but said it made the project possible.

And the Chants’ success under Gilmore has made it necessary. Coastal’s baseball teams have reached the NCAA regionals 10 of the last 11 seasons while becoming a program of national relevance.

Yurachek said the renovations became a priority after the Chants earned the right to host the 2010 NCAA baseball super regionals but opted to move the games to BB&T Coastal Field.

“When I came on board in January of 2010 and later that same year our baseball team was in the top five, we were rewarded a regional and the opportunity to host a super regional, but we had to move both of those events to BB&T Coastal Field,” Yurachek said. “It’s a great facility, there’s a great group of people to work with at that facility, but it’s still not our home facility. So we made it our goal from [CCU President David DeCenzo] to me to coach Gilmore that we were going to get this project off the ground.”

The next step now is to complete the construction documents and put the project out to bid for contractors. The renovations were designed by Michael Keeshen & Associates out of Greenville in partnership with national sports architecture firm Populous.

As for the construction process, the playing surfaces of both stadiums will be left intact and will be available to the teams to practice on, however the Chants will have to move their games off campus for the 2013 season. Coastal expects to finalize an agreement to play its home baseball games at BB&T Coastal Field, while the softball team is expecting to use the fields at Market Common as well as Carolina Forest High School to accommodate its games.

“I think when people see the renderings and what we’re actually going to do and have, I don’t know that there are many people that really thought we’d ever get to this point and be this extravagant with what we’re doing,” Gilmore said.