Owen T. Carroll Field, the primary athletic field on the campus of Seton Hall University, underwent various renovations this summer. The field is the home to men's and women's soccer, as well as the baseball team.
Kevin Sponzo, associate director of Athletics Facilities and Operations, said the renovations began on May 18 and were completed on June 23, taking a little over a month.
When walking past Owen T. Carroll field, one can notice three major renovations.
The most noticeable change made to the field is the playing surface. The old field turf has been ripped up and replaced with brand new field turf which came out in February this year.
"Field Turf Duraspine Pro is the new standard in artificial turf and the latest turf innovation from field turf," Sponzo said. "Along with Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., Seton Hall was one of the first high-profile installations for this product. Duraspine Pro has one of the most durable fibers in the industry, making the surface even more like a natural surface."
According to fieldturf.com the new Duraspine Pro turf has a high tear reistance and the strongest split resistance of artificial turf on the market.
The turf is also supposed to greatly impact the amount of injuries that athletes get on the surface. The surface is supposed to stop muscle tears by 74 percent along with lowering ACL trauma by 42 percent according to fieldturf.com's video on the newly created turf.
Senior shortstop A.J. Rusbarsky said there is also new turf in the batter's box and the whole field has a more appealing look that is similar to that of real grass.
"I have only been out there a few times so far, but from what I have experienced, it's a big step up from last year," Rusbarsky said. "The field plays much faster than our old turf. I know most of the guys are excited about getting out there and getting started."
A second renovation is the new banner hanging from the outfield fence which was implemented to give the Pirates some added spirit and make the field really feel like Seton Hall's home field.
The banner which runs along the fence for the tennis courts, has the Seton Hall Pirates written in SHU bold, the Seton Hall sports font, along with the Pirates logo placed on the banner multiple times.
The final renovation is the Pirate mascot logo that has been painted directly behind home plate.
Many Major League Baseball teams follow this trend of showing either a graphic of the team name or mascot behind home plate.
"The Pirate logo behind home plate adds a little personality and school pride," Rusbarsky said.
Along with the varsity athletes that use the field for their home games, student who play intermural flag football will also be able to use the new turf.
"I think the field looks a lot better than last year," senior George Chedid said. "They did a great job renovating it. I'm looking forward to using it during the flag football season."
This most recent renovation comes after the lights and artificial turf were first added to the field in 2007 to allow for more versility in scheduling games. The field, originally called Setonia Field, opened in 1907.
John Provenzano can be reached at john.provenzano@student.shu.edu.
