Shawnee State University’s new head baseball coach Rob Ehlers brought with him a strong work ethic and demand for doing things the right way. One of his priorities has been making the baseball facility, Branch Rickey Park, look the best it can for the upcoming season.

Upon his arrival at Shawnee, Ehlers assessed the work that needed to be put into the baseball field, such as repairing faulty sprinklers, removing weeds that were growing in the infield and surrounding the entirety of the field, and addressing issues with the grass in the outfield. Ehlers gathered his players to work together to fix these issues as a team. The team started by pulling weeds, spraying for them, edging the infield grass, seeding the field for new grass, replacing the batter’s eye, recentering the rubber on the pitcher’s mound and painting the walls with help from members of the community.

Within the next few weeks, the team will be laying down 48 tons of dirt in the infield to make the playing surface level once again. With the work put in by Ehlers and the SSU baseball team, Branch Rickey Park is beginning to look the best it has since around 2016.

The dedication that Ehlers has put into making Branch Rickey Park look its best has rubbed off on his players as they take pride in playing on a field that looks nice and gives them something to be proud of. The Shawnee State baseball team has put in hard work, dedication and lots of sweat into making the field a safer, nicer-looking field to play on.