On Monday, April 18, Southeast Missouri State University and the City of Cape Girardeau agreed to a $1.84 million renovation to Capaha Field.

The project's funding will be split evenly between the city and the university. The biggest changes will be the switch from natural grass to artificial turf and the addition of an indoor hitting facility.

Interim Director of Athletics Brady Barke said these changes needed to happen and have been planned for a while, partly because of player-safety problems.

"We've known there were some safety and playability issues with the field, especially the outfield; there's a lot of holes in the outfield," Barke said. "The infield is probably about 18 inches higher than the outfield if you actually go out there and walk it."

Not only will the new playing surface improve playing conditions, it will also have less maintenance issues.

"We don't have to worry about tearing up the field quite as much, especially early on," Barke said. "The drainage isn't as big of a concern, but then also we play a lot of games in February when temperatures might be just above freezing, but ground [temperatures] might be just around there, and you risk getting out there and really destroying the grass and the field never really taking its proper shape."

Last season the Redhawks were originally scheduled to play 29 home games, but due to weather they were only able to play 19 at Capaha Field. Most of the cancellations happened early in the season, and a turf surface could help get those games in.

"Given the climate, you don't have to necessarily worry about what the ground temperature might be and the impact of playing on that might have," Barke said. "Theoretically, it might be raining and you don't have to worry about your infield being covered."

The indoor hitting facility, which has no timetable for completion, will be located near Capaha Field on the third-base line, will help the team with practice scheduling. In the past, the baseball team has had to share workout time in Houck Field House with many of Southeast's other teams, including softball and gymnastics in the spring.

"The indoor [facility] to us is something we need at Capaha Field," coach Steve Bieser said. "We need a locker room on-site, we need the extra space for equipment. We can get a lot of work in still with the facility we have now, but we compete a lot with other teams for time."

Barke hopes the renovations, coupled with the baseball team's success, helps continue the program's progress moving forward.

"It's really exciting for us to be able to do this," Barke said. "It's a project that we needed to have, but the timing is really good given the recent success that baseball has seen. Not only will it help from a performance standpoint with the actual field, but from a recruiting standpoint, these types of things are huge selling points for that program."

Along with the improved playing surface and added building, the outfield walls, scoreboard and dugout fences will see an upgrade. These renovations come shortly after upgrades to the Show Me Center, Southeast Softball Complex and the Redhawks Success Center.

"I think it's a good time to be at Southeast Missouri State," Bieser said. "We're moving in the right direction from an athletics standpoint with softball and the weight room. The state-of-the-art weight room helps all of the sports here compete. There's just been a lot of good things going on, and I'm really happy the baseball program can piggyback off of those great efforts and get these upgrades."