Above and beyond.
PK Park got a few upgrades in time for @OregonBaseball's home opener this Friday. #GoDucks
Tickets: https://t.co/3WvY4T77On pic.twitter.com/1plDeMCE66
— GoDucks (@GoDucks) February 23, 2022
PK Park 2.0 is set to debut on Friday with new turf, shorter fences, and a soon-to-be new video board.
This is the first major renovation of the stadium since the Oregon Ducks brought the baseball program back in 2009.
“Through the tremendous commitment of athletic director Rob Mullens and associate athletic director Eric Roedl, and the incredible donations by Pat Kilkenny and numerous other huge supporters of our program, PK Park has never been a more ‘state of the art’ facility,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said.
The first noticeable difference will be the new turf that has a new PK Park logo behind home plate, the Oregon O in centerfield and outlines of flying ducks in left and right fields.
The center-field fence and the power alleys in left-center field and right-center field have been moved in 10 feet from the original design and lowered in height from eight feet to six-and-a-half feet from the left-field line to the right-center field gap. The fence in front of the Ducks’ bullpen in right field has been raised from four feet to six-and-a-half feet to match the rest of the outfield wall.
Moving the fences in should help Oregon’s offense and recruit more power hitters. Before, with the wind patterns, it took Herculean strength to hit a home run. It was more of a pitcher’s park, but now Oregon hopes it’s more of a fair park that’s equal for the pitchers and hitters.
Fans will get to enjoy a state-of-the-art 60-feet by 26.4-feet video board featuring the latest video technology from Daktronics, which is in the process of being installed behind the left-center field wall and will be finished and operational in late March.
The Ducks will get to officially test everything out Friday in the home opener against St. John’s in Game 1 of a four-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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