Monday, May 9, 2011

A Tale of Two Infields

Late last week I stopped by two different sites in Fishers, IN. Both sites have different infield mix profiles.

The first stop was Billericay Park. This park is the site for youth baseball in Fishers. The photos below show the new infield profile. The profile is 2 inches of a crushed limestone base. On top of the limestone is 2 inches of engineered soil, Dura Edge Classic, from Natural Sand Company. At this level/age of play, the fields are performing very well. Another example of how to make engineered soils work for your facility.

The photos below show the infields after 4 days of rain last week. As you can see, the infields were worked up slightly, approx 1/4 inches to break the surface tension and dry the conditioner. All the fields at Billericay Park are conditioned with 1/4 inches of Diamond Pro Red Infield Conditioner.



The next stop was at Hamilton Southeastern High School. This field had playability last year due to poor product usage and a layering problem. The infield profile was brick dust in 2009. In 2010, 1/2 inch of Sandridge infield mix was installed and not tilled into the brickdust. Norm Hummel, an independent lab in NY state tested the infield mix profile. FieldSaver 50 was applied to the infield and the brickdust, Sandridge, and FS 50 was blecavated together and then laser graded. Finally the field was topdressed with 1/4 inch of Diamond Pro Red Infield Conditioner. The field is playing great this year, even with the 4th wettest April in Indiana history.

The photos below show the mix and the grade of the infield. As the photo shows, the infield is graded to allow for surface drainage from the front edge of the infield to the back arc.




The final photo below is a facility photo showing protective netting. This photo was taken at Billericay Park. This park has some of the best protective netting in the state.


To learn more about Billericay Park, click HERE
To learn more about HSE baseball, click HERE

To learn more about the Natural Sand Company, click HERE
To learn more about Diamond Pro, click HERE

Go to j-dturf.com to learn more about J&D Turf.

Play on!
--Jamie

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