Carthage R-9 school district holds groundbreaking ceremony for new baseball field
The Carthage High School campus is officially expanding.
A groundbreaking ceremony took place today [Tuesday] for the new Carthage baseball stadium that is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2025 baseball season.
“This was cool,” first-year Carthage coach Kevin Burgi said to NewsTalk KZRG. “There have been so many people who have worked really hard on this. To see it finally start to come to fruition is really, really neat. From our school board to every administrator who has hit the ground fundraising, it’s been really cool to see the baseball community at Carthage rally around it.”
Several Carthage administrators, members associated with the baseball team and members associated with the construction of the project grabbed a shovel and a hardhat and broke ground on the new stadium.
“It means a lot to see the support that comes to our athletes and our baseball players,” Burgi said. “These kids have represented them very, very well and the community has taken care of them in return. It means a lot to me to see that, but the biggest thing for me is to see how much these guys have worked towards it.”
The new stadium will be completed in two phases.
The first phase will see the construction of a completely-turfed field, a fence around the field as well as the backstop and all-new lighting, which is expected to be done by August 2024.
Construction of the first phase will consist of the base for the field, building pads, site drainage and underground infrastructure for the entire site.
Features for the field include a home plate, a pitcher’s mound and a first-base area that each have a Velcro-fastened removable section for wear-and-tear replacement. The outfield fence will be 320 feet down the first and third-base lines, gradually growing to 375 feet in center field. There will be six poles equipped with LED lighting fixtures. The backstop is a three-sided concrete-fitting wall with a 30-foot installed. Batting cages and bullpens are also expected to be completed in Phase 1.
The second phase is expected to begin in late March and will consist of completing the entry plaza and building package, which is made up of a concessions stand building, a restroom building that includes an officials room, a two-level press box, a combined locker room as well as both dugouts. Pending the acceptance of a bid, Phase 2 is expected to be completed by September 2024.
The project is expected to cost $4.5 million, with several donations from the community helping to fulfill the funding. The largest donation came from the K.D. & M.L. Steadley Trust, which pledged $2.5 million. The trust is managed by Bank of America and will donate $500,000 over the course of five years.
In terms of this season, the Tigers will play the predominant amount of their games at Carl Lewton Stadium for the final time, with doubleheaders on the weekend at Joplin’s Joe Becker Stadium.