Major League Amenities at the New Nevada High School Baseball Field

Nevada Cubs Baseball Finds New Home at Sports Complex

Historic Billy Sunday Field in Nevada had long been the home of the high school baseball team. Despite its propensity for flooding after heavy rains and its proximity to a busy roadway, the field held fond memories for many community members. Due to its shortcomings, however, school leaders recognized that it was time to move on from this storied location. Now, after many years in the making, the Nevada Cubs have a new field to call home just across town at the SCORE Recreation Athletic Complex.

Originally designed by Snyder & Associates over two decades ago, the SCORE Complex was already home to numerous athletic venues and an established community draw. With an eye on the future, the design team created a space for this new ball field when the time was right for development. Partnering with Snyder & Associates, school and city leaders found the vision for the new field easy to establish. Bringing it to reality, though, took the careful planning of our trusted team of professionals.

Infill Location Provides Space for Modern Baseball Amenities

Crews begin grading the new field location.

One of the main advantages of designing an athletic field at a new location was the benefit of working from a blank slate. The new field is positioned at the SCORE Complex on a vacant piece of ground adjacent to the youth ballparks and just north of the Fawcett Family Aquatic Center. This afforded the designers the space to add all of the amenities that’d you’d expect at a modern baseball field. Additionally, since the new location is on higher ground compared to Billy Sunday Field, fewer games need to be canceled because of flooding issues and players are able to have more time on the field for practice.

This state-of-the-art baseball complex has spacious, above-ground dugouts with a clubhouse incorporated into the home dugout. The backstop has padding with the Nevada High School team logo and colors, while the outfield fence sports a purple windscreen with gold-lettered “Nevada Cubs Baseball” emblazoned in center field.

An expansive concrete concourse area surrounds the backstop area of the field to provide better fan access and support a 400-seat wrap-around bleacher section with a built-in press box. The concourse also provides access to a new concession/restroom building and a batting cage. To welcome visitors to the field, a large synthetic turf home plate emblem with the team logo is positioned in the concourse directly behind the bleachers. The Nevada Athletic Booster Club provided the funding for this unique touch.

With the addition of so much concrete, our team also prepared enhanced stormwater modeling and design to provide the necessary stormwater infrastructure. An existing on-site detention basin provided an adequate drainage point. This effort improved the stormwater runoff for the location and the surrounding site.

Timing Challenges Addressed with Diligent Planning

Sand is used to backfill the subdrain trench.

Of course, none of the new infrastructure could be added until the new field was established first. In order for the field to be ready for play in the spring of 2019, the field had to be seeded in early 2018 with a special turf blend. Iowa Sports Turf Management was contracted for this portion of the project. They not only graded and prepared the field for seeding but also installed the infield and outfield irrigation system, subdrain, and constructed the infield in accordance with the plan created by our team.

Community leaders, school officials, and players anticipate that fans will quickly embrace the new Nevada Cubs Baseball Field. This welcoming and enjoyable facility created by our professional design crew has created a renewed energy in the community for their high school’s baseball team. And much like Billy Sunday Field created memories for past generations of Nevada residents, the promise of new memories in this new home is generating an undeniable excitement for players and fans alike.