Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Phil Welch Stadium Relies Heavily Upon Turface® MVP® and QuickDry®




Mike Hebrard, owner of Athletic Field Design in Portland, Oregon is also the proud father of Andy Hebrard, third-basemen of the Missouri Western Griffons. While en route to his son’s opening game in St. Joseph, Missouri in late February 2009, the elder Hebrard was not expecting a call from his son’s coach, Buzz Verduzco, about an emergency clean-up project in the outfield of the Griffon's home field, Phil Welch Stadium.

In an attempt to place a new fence along the outfield line, the St. Joseph city contractors had drilled 90 holes into the ground. The depth of the field was miscalculated, resulting in 60 punctured holes in the irrigation pipes beneath the surface of the field. To make matters worse, while assessing the damage of the situation, the electrical contractor drove his tractor onto the outfield and ended up getting it wedged in the muddy, wet mire.

Hebrard embarked on getting the field up and running quickly with Turface® MVP® and Turface QuickDry®, products used both in skinned infield maintenance and in the construction and renovation of natural grass. Additionally, all of Turface products act as puddle absorbents, helping to manage excess moisture levels, while preventing fields from cracking or hardening.

For two days, Hebrard, Verduzco, and Griffon baseball players dug several ditches to allow the standing water to drain under the new fence. Once the surface was smooth, they spread, dragged, and rolled 2 tons of MVP and 1 ton of QuickDry to manage the remaining moisture and get the outfield dry and firm enough for play.

Thankful to Hebrard’s direction and Turface’s efficacy, the Missouri Western Griffons were able to resume their season the next day. Relieved after the clean-up was finalized, Hebrard said, “This was a total team effort on our front to get the field fixed. But the Turface products had a lot to do with the ability to get the Griffon season going.”

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