Mandi Mooney
Assistant Editor/Web Administrator
For the past year, the baseball team has dreamed of playing a night game at home. Tuesday night that dream became a reality when the new stadium lighting was officially dedicated at Anglin Field.
The process of acquiring and installing the lights has been a long and tedious procedure. The lights, which stand 80 feet above the ground, were finally added to the field last fall after numerous setbacks because of weather and construction.
“The weather this summer has been the biggest downfall along with the soil not being up to standards to hold the lights,” said head coach Danny Clark last fall.
The new lighting will provide many benefits to the team, as well as the students and fans of Milligan’s conference winning baseball team.
“The biggest part is the academic part in staying in class longer,” Clark said.
Because Milligan previously had to play its home games during the day, the players were forced to miss numerous classes throughout the spring season. With the lights, games can be held at night. This will enable students to remain in class during the day. Also, student fans will be able to attend more games, as they will be able to come to night games. Otherwise, students might not have been able to see the games because of class conflicts.
We have also a lot of local guys and their parents will be able to see more games at night when they normally were at work during the day games,” Clark said.
The dedication ceremony acknowledged Lyn Jeffers and his support of the project and help with seeing it come into existence.
“He initiated the project and the campaign,” said Public Relations projects specialist Chandrea Shell.
Jeffers originally instigated the campaign to raise the necessary funds for the lighting system. The new lighting system was dedicated in his name because of his generous contribution to Milligan baseball.
To show their appreciation for the new lights, the Buffs defeated Southern Wesleyan University that evening with a final score of 17-2. They even set a new school record by hitting five homeruns in a single game.
Milligan jumped off to a great start by scoring 11 runs in the first inning alone.
Clark said he was extremely pleased with the team’s performance. “Obviously, anytime we score 11 runs in the first inning…it’s a lot easier to coach,” said Clark.
After two runs from juniors Nathan Meade and Jacob McAllister, senior first baseman Brian Miller hit his first homerun over the fence that sent three runners home. Junior Nathan Chandler stepped up to the place to add his own home run to the score. Later on in the inning, junior third baseman Dustin Price hit another homerun to bring the score to 11-0 at the end of the first inning.
In the third inning, Miller hit his second homerun of the game.
“(Miller) had an exception
game,” Clark said. “He had two homeruns set the pace for the game when he came
up and hit a three-run homer in the first inning.”
Price also hit his second homerun for the day in the fourth inning, as he also
sent Jeremy Dulgar home.
The Buffs pitcher, freshman J.P. Penland, kept Southern Wesleyan from scoring until the seventh inning when they removed a chance of a shutout by getting two runs. Penland completed the entire game for Milligan.
Tuesday’s win brings Milligan’s record to 23-16 for the season and 11-5 in the conference. The Buffs next play Appalachian Athletic Conference foe Bluefield this weekend in a three-game series.