PISCATAWAY — Tuesday was the kind of day when the Rutgers baseball and softball teams traditionally are out of luck.
Snowfall and 30-degree temperatures made practicing outside unrealistic. A men’s basketball home game made practicing indoors at the Rutgers Athletic Center a scheduling nightmare.
But instead of being literally left out in the cold, Rutgers held a ribbon-cutting ceremony — after practices, no less — for the Fred Hill Training Complex in a well-timed transformative moment for the athletics department.
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“This is exactly the kind of day that shows it doesn’t matter whether you are in Florida or New Jersey,” athletics director Pat Hobbs said. “We can practice here in New Jersey and get ready for those (early-season) Florida trips.”
The privately-financed 22,500-square foot facility has been available for practices since November but only recently became fully operational with its six batting cages, turf infield, pitching machines and wall-to-wall netting.
The netting was not part of the designs when groundbreaking began on the project in October 2015, but baseball coach Joe Litterio approached Hobbs (hired in December 2015) about the added benefits of having visitors in the facility who can watch practice from behind safe locations.
“This facility was supposed to have four cages in it dropped down from the ceiling,” Litterio said. “And I just didn’t see that we could get the use out of a place like this with only four cages. I went to Pat about what was needed and of course the price tag was a little bit higher than in the plans. Without blinking an eye, Pat said, ‘Do it right.'”
More than 100 donors contributed to $3.25 million project, according to Hobbs. Barbara Bauer and her late husband William as well as Ronald and Patricia Bainton are recognized for their significant donations with a banner that hangs inside the facility.
The class of 1953, led by former longtime Rutgers athletics director Fred Gruninger (1973-97), made a group donation. Gruninger hired Hill, who cut the ceremonial ribbon, as Rutgers baseball coach in 1984. Hill remained in Piscataway until his retirement with 1,089 wins in 2014.
Rutgers softball coach Jay Nelson said that Hill first mentioned the idea of a “hitting shack” Dumanbet to him when he was hired 10 years ago,
“We have to be all-in,” Hobbs said. “No matter when you were part of Rutgers, whether you a former student, former letterwinner, former ADs. If we are all-in, then good days are ahead for Rutgers.”
Two former Big East Players of the Year — major-leaguers Todd Frazier and Patrick Kivlehan — returned to their alma mater to see the new facility.
“This is unbelievable,” said Frazier, an All-Star for the Chicago White Sox. “It’s above and beyond what I thought it was going to be. I really wish we had this back in the day. I’m proud for the guys to have this. It’s just one step closer to being even more an elite team that Rutgers needs to be.”
Kivlehan, who made his MLB debut in 2016 and will try to make the Cincinnati Reds roster in spring training, thrilled the crowd by taking batting practice in his dress slacks and shoes.
Rutgers deputy athletics director Sarah Baumgartner — a former four-year softball letter winner at Illinois — took some swings.
“I was a little nervous, to be completely honest, with all these people here, in my nice clothes,” said Kivlehan, who played four years of Rutgers football before joining the baseball program. “Once I made contact with the first one it was a little easier.”
As usual, Rutgers baseball and softball teams will open the season next month in warm-weather climates.
“They have a live look at some hitting, a live look at some pitching,” Kivlehan said. “Just to have that routine on a baseball field — you are not playing by the 30-, 40-, 50-yard line in the bubble or the parking lot lines — it’s definitely going to help these guys.”
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Hobbs and Litterio extended the invitation for the major-leaguers to use the facility in the offseason. Both train in their native New Jersey.
“In a facility like this, you can have scouts walk around, you can do infield practice, you can do all different types of games, you can see the ball and hit the ball as hard as you want,” Frazier said. “It’s really cool for these guys, and it can only expand the horizons in baseball and softball.”
The Fred Hill Training Complex is the first entirely new athletics facility added to Rutgers landscape since the Sonny Werblin Center in 1990.
“Everything we do — whether it’s opening the new weight room or opening this facility — is showing people that we can get it done and we will get it done,” Hobbs said. “Then they will see the benefits of those things opening up. Already I’m hearing from our coaches that it’s changed the game for them in their recruiting and it’s changed the game for them in their preparation.”
Ryan Dunleavy may be reached at rdunleavy@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rydunleavy. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.
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