Steller Field, the home of BGSU baseball's team, is currently undergoing its first major renovation in decades.

The ballpark, opened in 1964, is getting a new turf field and lighting system.

"The conversations for turf have been going on for a long time…In northwest Ohio, having the ability to practice and play on a turf field is key to our success," said Nathan Anderson, BGSU senior athletic director for fundraising and development. "The conversation really started, probably seriously, about two-and-a-half to three years ago, but for the last two years, we have really been hitting the ground running and trying to make this project come to reality, and it has. So, we're excited about that."

The turf and lights are set to cost about $3 million, and between gifts and pledges for the next three to five years, BGSU has collected just over $3.1 million.

"I want to recognize that many hands have lifted our boat and helped us reach our goal. I want to specifically thank Paul J. Hooker '75 for his $1.5 million transformational gift that got us to the finish line," said BGSU Vice President for Athletics Strategy and Director of Athletics in an email to baseball alumni and supporters on July 23. "In total, pledges and gifts to this project are now at $3,115,707."

The university aims to have the project finished sometime this fall.

Maumee Bay Turf is installing the new playing surface, the same company that installed a new turf field for the BGSU marching band practice and auxiliary field. Meanwhile, Musco Lighting is installing the lights.

While the university has secured funds for the field and lights, they are still seeking about $300,000 for additional renovations, which will include enhanced outfield and foul line fencing, custom padding on the outfield fence, new batting cages and new equipment and technology.

"We're currently in the phase of doing the full turf field and lighting. So, that's happening; we have the funding to move forward with the project. Then, there's some additional items that we'd like to include in this phase of the project," Anderson said. "It makes sense if we can get it done in this first phase. We want to do it now, while there's construction going on, as opposed to doing it later in a second phase when the costs of items go up and that $300,000 additional that we're looking to fundraise turns into a larger number. That's what we're chasing down now. It's a fun project to be a part of, and we're continuing to build upon the baseball program and the success that Kyle Hallock and the team have had over the last few years."

Although many wish the renovations could have happened sooner, Anderson credits the alumni for rallying around the program to make the dream a reality.

"We would have loved to do this project a year ago. You have a goal timeline. Sometimes it doesn't always work out to that goal, and we have great supporters like Paul Hooker, who is the lead donor in this. It's all about timing," Anderson said. "You always wish it could have been done sooner, but it's great when it all comes together and you see the way that this program has rallied around the current team."

According to BGSU Athletics, the last renovation to the stadium was a new scoreboard and updated backstop in 2012. Before then, the last major renovation since the 1960s was the addition of new bleachers and a press box in 2002.

"I don't [know the last major Steller Field renovation]. You talk to guys like Orel Hershiser and guys that have come back who saved the program, and a lot of what it sounds like is the field that they played on in the 70s, 80s and 90s is relatively the same as what our teams have been playing on the last couple of years. I'm sure there's little things here and there that have been fixed and changed. I don't know when they added the batting cage, but I'm sure that was an addition at some point, and that's one of the areas that in this project we're looking to even enhance more. So, I don't think that field has had a major renovation like this in a long time."

Once the project is complete, Anderson would like to see more alumni return to the university and interact with the program.

"The alumni piece of it is not just fundraising. If you have the means to give and you want to be a part of this program from a financial standpoint, that's great. But we want our alumni to be a part of the current program, come back to campus, get involved with the current team, come meet us, come meet head coach Kyle Hallock, come be a part of the great things that are going on with BGSU baseball, BGSU athletics and BGSU as a whole campus. That's a critical piece of it. I'm excited for this. I'm excited for this program to continue to grow, and we're excited for the future of BGSU baseball."