Editorial: Officials should keep working on new MU baseball field

Marshall University's baseball team had one of its best seasons ever this year, including a trip to the finals of the Conference USA tournament.

Thundering Herd Coach Jeff Waggoner, who recently was named Coach of the Year by the Collegiate Baseball newspaper, hopes for even greater success for the program in the future. He also hopes the team will soon have a home of its own.

Supporters of the Marshall baseball program have been talking about a stadium on, or near, campus for years. The Herd has played at a series of fields around Huntington through the years, but the 2008 players were really road warriors.

Marshall played conference home games at Appalachian Power Park in Charleston and other home games at Spring Valley High School, Lawrence County High School in Louisa, Ky., and Epling Stadium in Montgomery, W.Va.

University administrators say they face two big challenges in building a ball park -- finding a site and finding the money. Although several sites in the downtown area have been explored, none has proved practical so far. The price tag for a full-fledged stadium is estimated at $8 million to $10 million, and President Stephen Kopp says that would be hard to justify at present.

He also points out that playing at Power Park in Charleston has many benefits. It showcases the school in a market that is important to Marshall, and the CUSA teams are impressed with the facility. Meanwhile, Marshall has contributed to improvements at a field being developed by the YMCA's Kennedy Center, and that is expected to be ready for other home games and practice in the 2009 season.

But that seems to fall short of a good permanent solution.

Waggoner suggests starting with just a nice field, and over time, raising the funds to build a stadium around it. That approach has worked for a number of other college baseball programs, including East Carolina, where they developed their $11 million facility over a number of years. The Pirates averaged more than 3,000 fans per game this season.

Marshall's total reported attendance for 19 home games this year was 6,706, an average of 353 a game. For its conference games in Charleston, the Herd drew 3,880 fans for an average of 323 a game.

A few local supporters already have pledged support to help out and hope to meet with university officials about their ideas for a phased-in stadium plan.

We agree that playing several games in Charleston each season makes sense, but there are many advantages to developing a ballpark near campus, particularly in building a fan base among students and Tri-State residents, as well.

Short of a check falling from the sky, we think the phased-in approach makes a lot of sense, and we hope the university and local supporters will work toward that goal.