By By ADAM FISHER / Niles Daily Star
With initial ground work set to begin on Niles High School's new baseball stadium, the project is still on course to be completed in time for baseball season, Vikings' head coach Mike Vota said Wednesday.
The new ball park is being built on top of the old one, to the south of the football stadium. The first phase of the project was removing the outfield fences in September.
Vota said excavation of the current field, the second phase, will begin early next week. Workers are going to dig up the current sod and strip the field of its soil. They will then set up the irrigation system for the park, and new sod will be laid on Monday, Nov. 8.
The school hoped to have the field completely built by March so the Vikings could use it for their 2005 baseball season. To do so, Vota said the new field would have to be installed before the ground gets too hard from the cold weather.
Vota said the contractors told him if they get the sod in before Thanksgiving, the ground should still be warm enough for the grass to become permanent. Niles is a few weeks ahead of schedule, then, Vota added.
In order to build the state-of-the-art field Vota has in mind, Niles' athletics department wants to raise $100,000, which Niles Junior Baseball League has agreed to match with a donation in the same amount.
Currently, Niles only fundraising effort has been to sell commemorative bricks that will be placed in the new stadium's walls. People can purchase a brick for $100. Their names will then be engraved on it and the brick will be placed in the wall.
Vota said Niles has seen some success selling the bricks, but they haven't tried very hard to make the public aware of the fundraiser. Vota said the school is going to pick up its efforts in November and December, partly in hopes that people will purchase the bricks as Christmas presents for others.
Niles also received a large donation from Tom Watson, owner of Watson's Tree Service. located at 2953 E. Detroit St. in Niles. Wolverine Electrical Contracting Inc. has also made a contribution and has agreed to do the electrical work for the new stadium, Vota said.
The school has a few other tentative ideas for fundraising, but Vota said they won't elaborate on the ideas unless they have to. Right now, the athletics department is focusing on selling the commemorative bricks. If those don't sell as successfully as Niles hopes, the school will explore other avenues to raise funds, Vota said.