Official debut of new field is Thursday vs. Omaha

BYU vs. Omaha Game Notes

The official debut of BYU baseball’s new state-of-the-art field is Thursday against Nebraska Omaha to start a three-game series.

This week for the first time, the Cougars will play an NCAA game on the new field at Miller Park. In the history of BYU baseball it has always played on natural grass, including the past 48 years at the present site at Larry H. Miller Field.

The synthetic turf field looks stunning. The most valuable upgrade is the heating and drainage system that was installed underneath.

The new system can melt three to four inches of snow and drain 19 inches of water per hour, allowing a lot more field time during the winter months. Bullpens and batting cages were also expanded and a new bunting station was added since last season.

On this new surface, BYU looks to better its current 5-6 record in hosting the Mavericks. Omaha took a 4-7 record into a Tuesday night game at Minnesota. For three weeks the Cougars have been on the road. The series against Omaha starts an 11-game home stand for BYU.

On Thursday at 5 p.m., junior right-hander Jordan Wood (0-1, 3.71) will be BYU’s starting pitcher. Freshman right-hander Ryan Brady (0-0, 9.45) is scheduled to start in Friday’s game at 5 p.m. Senior lefthander Hayden Rogers (2-1, 4.05) will start in Saturday’s series finale at 11 a.m.

Both the Cougars and Mavericks landed player of the week honors this past week for their respective leagues.

Omaha pitcher Kinney Payton threw 140 pitches last Sunday in a no-hitter against Ohio for Summit League honors and National Pitcher of the Week honors by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. His team is ranked No. 2 in the nation in sacrifice bunts.

BYU slugger Brock Hale was the West Coast Conference Player of the week in raising his batting average 103 percentage points.

Admission will be free to Thursday’s game for those showing “A Pass of All Passes,” and to Saturday’s dollar hot dog game for Rex Lee Runners.

All of the BYU vs. Omaha games will be streamed live over the Internet and broadcast live over BYU Radio—Sirius XM 143. Saturday’s game will be televised live by BYUtv and broadcast live by ESPN Radio 960 AM.

Pending the outcome of Utah Valley basketball games in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, Thursday and Friday’s BYU baseball games may also have coverage on ESPN 960 AM.