Donors led way to `Awesome' Performance Development Center
2/11/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
Jaw-dropping and awesome.
The first Central Michigan student-athletes to throw and hit in the just-completed Performance Development Center at Theunissen Stadium are impressed with the final product and agree that the facility aligns with a commitment to winning.
Colton Bradley, a junior on the CMU baseball team, was one of the first Chippewa pitchers to throw off the indoor mounds, which are covered by artificial turf.
"It felt realistic," he said. "I was a little skeptical about throwing off a turf mound indoors. This is going to be very beneficial to our program. Being able to work off a regulation mound helps us to be ready as soon as the season rolls around."
An anonymous $1 million gift, the largest ever to the CMU baseball program, was the catalyst for the facility.
"We also had another $250,000 commitment and several other major gifts to make the Performance Development Center at Theunissen Stadium a reality," CMU Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said.
Fundraising is tracking toward a $2 million goal, and the 7,170-square-foot facility will be funded entirely through donations, a first for CMU Athletics. So far, $1.8 million has been raised. The Chippewa Athletic Fund is working on the final phase of fundraising, which includes several naming opportunities at the facility and the stadium. Visit the webpage to learn more about how fans can leave a legacy at Theunissen Stadium.
The PDC at Theunissen features four bays, two of which include pitcher's mounds. The bays are separated by floor-to-ceiling netting, and the floor is nearly completely covered in artificial turf.
"It was pretty jaw-dropping," senior infielder/outfielder Alex Borglin said. "It's definitely going to help with future recruits. Our facility is already awesome. Few teams in the country with a walkout clubhouse to the field, and adding the performance center connected to it, it's just going to make it that much more attractive to people, and it's going help the players, the program, a lot.
"It shows that athletic department and the baseball program is committed to taking care of their student-athletes. It's a first-class, nice, up-to-date facility."
The PDC at Theunissen is connected by a hallway to the Keilitz Clubhouse, giving CMU a fully enclosed, all-inclusive facility that includes the locker room, restroom facilities, a training room, the umpires dressing room and team meeting room. Jaksa said having a training facility connected to a clubhouse is rare in college athletics.
"In the landscape of baseball at the Division I level, facilities are very important," CMU baseball coach Steve Jaksa said. "A lot of work went into this. We had a vision of what we wanted, and then we received some very generous donations to help with that vision. There are so many advantages with this, and recruiting is a big part of that. This is one more example of how CMU strives to provide the best for student-athletes."
CMU players immediately saw the potential of the training facility.
"It's awesome having this connected right to our clubhouse so we can come over here, get a bullpen in," sophomore pitcher Michael Brettell said. "It's nice to be able to pitch off a mound, get ready for the season, especially going down south to play those guys who have been outside already. This will definitely help us get prepared."
"It's a lot better surface," senior catcher Robert Greenman said. "You don't have to worry about bad bounces (with the turf). It's easy to see, good background, good lighting. It's really good for our program. It's the Championship Culture, and we're always talking about doing the best for our program."
