Switch to turf made with climate in mind

The days of grass and dirt stains are done for IU baseball when the team plays in Bloomington.

“You’re going to have to slide very, very, very early,” sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber said. “It’s completely different from sliding on dirt, because when it’s wet on dirt you have to slide later, and on turf when it’s wetter you’ll slide about 15 feet before the bag.”

Kaufman Field, which will welcome its first ever game tonight, is entirely turf. There is no natural grass or dirt on the field. Senior outfielder Justin Cureton said some players will have to adjust their slides.

Having turf instead of grass gives the game a faster pace, Cureton said. The ball gets to the fielder faster and allows runners to run quicker.

“I prefer turf because I’m a speed guy,” Cureton said.

IU switched to a turf field because the climate of the Midwest is not conducive for a field with natural grass and dirt. Indiana State, Louisville, Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Ohio State also have artificial fields, IU Coach Tracy Smith said.

“I’m a traditionalist, too,” Smith said. “My preference would be to go out there and have an immaculate grass, dirt facility, but it just doesn’t make a lot of sense with where we are geographically.”

One thing separating IU from most schools is the artificial mound in Kaufman Field.

Other schools usually have a dirt mound, something that will be a distinct advantage for IU’s pitchers, who reportedly enjoy pitching off the new mound, Smith said.

“Most college mounds you cannot maintain like the major league mounds,” Smith said. “But if you’ve ever been on a major league mound and then stood on this, it feels just like that.”

Junior pitcher Joey DeNato hasn’t thrown off the new mound yet, but he has thrown from the artificial bullpen mounds and likes the way they feel.

The California native said he didn’t play on an artificial field before his freshman year at college when the Hoosiers played at Illinois.

“I think other teams will struggle with it just because they’re probably going to have to play with metal cleats when we’re playing with our turfs,” DeNato said.

The artificial field is not yet a home field advantage for the Hoosiers, as the team had its first practice at Kaufman Field on Monday.

The artificial grass and dirt will eliminate bad hops on ground balls. Several players said the consistency of ground balls will be a much-welcomed feature of the stadium.

“I think this one is sweet,” DeNato said. “Just everything about it. I’d much rather play in this.”

Smith said he believes the absence of dirt from IU baseball will not be a big deal and that fans won’t notice.

“It’s going to be baseball,” Smith said. “I don’t think people will be disappointed.”