Renovations are continuing to be made at Southeast Missouri State’s home baseball field, Capaha Park, including a turf resurfacing, a new scoreboard, including a video screen and all new fencing surrounding the field. These updates have changed the field into a construction zone until next semester, leaving the team without a place for fall practices.Due to ongoing renovations, Jackson High School has allowed Southeast to continue practicing on Whitey Herzog field, the high school’s home field where the Indians play their baseball games. Southeast travels about 20 minutes from campus over to the field four days a week for practices. First year head coach Andy Sawyers is excited for the upcoming season.

“We’re excited about the facility and appreciative of all the people that made it happen for us,” Sawyers said. “People who gave gifts and donations, and the city is also funding some of it, so Mayor Rediger, too.”

Sawyers enjoys the drive over to Jackson throughout the week because it gives him 20 minutes each way to make some phone calls and talk to various people, which he doesn’t have to do in the office anymore.

“To be honest it’s a nice break in my day,” Sawyers said. “I can call a couple scouts and friends and check on some recruits.”

The team is at the mercy of Jackson, however, so the challenging part is when the field is occupied by the high school’s various events and activities.

Sawyers said they have to schedule around it, but they are still grateful for the opportunity to have a place to practice.

“We’re grateful for Jackson and Brian Austin, their head coach, for letting us have their facility,” Sawyers said. “We told our players at the very beginning, we’re not going to make this an excuse.”

The team is out at Whitey Herzog field Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Jackson has a fall practice every Tuesday, and that’s when Sawyers has his team on the turf at Houck Stadium to work on defensive assignments, bunt coverages and pitchers fielding practice. Sawyers said he really runs practices hard during the week so he can give the team off on the weekends in the fall. The coaches are able to go out and recruit and not have to miss any practices.

For the players, it’s business as usual and they’re looking for a chance to win their fourth consecutive Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship.

“Baseball is still baseball when we get out there,” junior infielder Trevor Ezell said. “We still approach it the same way we would anywhere else.”

Ezell finished his sophomore campaign hitting .326, starting in 59 games for Southeast. He had five home runs and 31 RBIs while stealing 23 of 25 bases.

Ezell said it isn’t affecting classes any more than it would any other year in the fall. Players will have classes that run through practice regardless of the practice location.

“The drive doesn’t make too much of a difference to the players,” Ezell said.

The players, especially Ezell, are excited for the new field and the scoreboard to be installed.

“It’s going to be fantastic,” Ezell said. “We’re not going to miss practice. We’re not going to miss a whole lot of anything [according to rainouts]. The field will look real nice with a great scoreboard to go with it.”

Southeast has not yet released its schedule for the upcoming season, but will look to win its fourth consecutive regular season OVC championship and repeat as conference tournament champions.