By Jack Morrison ‘23

In 2019, the talk of Brother Rice getting a new baseball field began. There was much interest surrounding the subject, but other issues around campus had to be tended to first. The north campus parking lot was in desperate need of a makeover. Attention shifted from redoing the baseball field to the makeover of the parking lot.

The parking lot plan was underway and the baseball field talks started up again. Then, Covid-19 hit and halted everything.

“Right before covid hit I heard talks of the baseball field being redone. But since then I haven’t heard much about it. I mean it would be awesome, but I doubt I will ever play on another Brother Rice field other than the one we have right now,” said junior baseball player Rudy Perez.

On top of Covid-19, the parking lot was a bigger problem than anyone could have imagined. The whole sewage and light systems had to be changed before they could even start construction on the lot. The new baseball field was put on hold once again.

Coming back from Covid-19, it was clear that some other things around campus needed some renovating. That list included resurfacing the athletic field, refresh the chapel and faculty lounge, building an esports room and refurbishing the fitness area into a first-class student and athlete fitness center. With Brother Rice President Mark Donahue leading the way, these state of the art projects were completed in no time.

“We have now initiated planning for our new campaign and the next phase of physical plant improvements,” said Mr. Donahue.

Brother Rice has now started to refocus on campus priorities. At the top of this list is rebuilding the baseball field into a multi-purpose, artificial turf based baseball and multipurpose field. The plan is to reorient the home plate to the far southwest corner of this space.

“Brother Rice Baseball is in a really good spot right now. A new field would only boost the program to reach higher levels of greatness,” said senior baseball player Connor Lyons.

While nothing is official yet, the Brother Rice Administrative Leadership Team has planned meetings with the Brother Rice Board of Directors in early June. The two groups will team up together and do what is best for Brother Rice.

“I am excited about the baseball field planning and all other items we are reviewing to enhance the student experience at Brother Rice,” said Mr. Donahue.