Oct. 3, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois Field, home of the Fighting Illini baseball team, will be undergoing a facelift this fall, University of Illinois Director of Athletics Ron Guenther announced Wednesday. FieldTurf Tarkett, an industry leader and the same provider that has installed playing surfaces at three Major League Baseball ballparks and 18 Division I baseball fields, will convert the playing field to an artificial surface.

"I am pleased that we are able to make this improvement to our baseball facility," Guenther said. "The artificial surface will greatly improve the number of dates we can use the field for practice and games. Illinois Field has been one of the premier facilities in the Midwest and in the country, and this upgrade will help maintain its status."

The installation will begin on Oct. 8 and will span between two and three months. In preparation for the turf, the field will be graded and lowered to install a concrete apron, to which the turf will then be fastened. FieldTurf will cover the entire field with the exception of the pitcher's mound, which will remain the traditional clay. The warning track near the outfield wall and side fences will be terra cotta-colored turf with pumice stone or lava rock infill. This rock will provide a unique sound and feel for fielders as they approach the field's boundaries. The field lines, rather than being painted on, will be white turf. State-of-the-art drainage will be embedded in the rock subsurface underneath the turf.

"The addition of this turf will be a tremendous boost for our program. It will allow us to practice outside when we have nice weather in February and March," Illinois baseball coach Dan Hartleb said. "This surface will play extremely true and will be one of the finest in the country."

The installation will cost just over $1 million and the turf will have a lifespan of 10-12 years. It will be funded by private gifts. The Division of Intercollegiate Athletics spends $85,000-90,000 annually on field maintenance and will break even monetarily over the lifespan of the turf since it is virtually maintenance-free.

"Illinois Field is well known as one of the top collegiate baseball facilities in the United States, and we are exceptionally pleased that FieldTurf will now be the turf of choice at that outstanding venue," FieldTurf CEO David Moszkowski said. "FieldTurf's baseball product is the finest available in the world, as evidenced by the fact that it is the leading synthetic grass surface in Major League Baseball and also in the NCAA. We're also very happy that Illinois will become the eighth Big Ten university to install FieldTurf for one of their athletic teams. I am supremely confident that Coach Hartleb and his players will notice an immediate difference in the playability and safety of their new FieldTurf surface."

The turf, composed of a duo monofilament product that is 2 ½-2 ¾" long, will be infilled with a mixture of 20 percent washed silica sand and 80 percent rounded cryogenic rubber. The surface replicates grass very well, both in appearance and performance. The sand portion of the infill mixture helps hold down the turf, preventing buckling and moving, while the rubber helps to hold up the duo monofilament and to mimic natural grass.