By Jen Toland, College Beat Writer
November 21, 2012
Worcester, MA --- Worcester State senior Nick Bonofiglio had just entered his apartment off June Street last Monday afternoon when he got a call from baseball coach Dirk Baker telling him to get down to the Kevin D. Lyons Diamond at Rockwood Park, the Lancers' new home field.
Kind of a strange request for the middle of November, but Bonofiglio and a bunch of his teammates — including Joe Carlier, Joe Perlak, Nick Gikas and Dan Ubele — headed over to the field and when they got there, they quickly understood Baker's urgency.
Water was gushing onto campus, and toward the field, after a major water main break near Chandler and May streets.
"It looked like Niagara Falls," Bonofiglio said.
Baker, WSU's 19th-year coach, was giving a tour to recruits when he learned of the break and soon after saw water flowing into the university's north parking lot and onto the softball field, which is in front of the baseball field. Water was close to knee deep on the walkway behind the softball field's first-base side bleachers, Baker said.
"I called the kids and said, 'We're in danger of having our field wash away in front of our eyes,' " Baker said.
Until this spring, the Lancers didn't have a home field. They played their games at colleges around the city for the last 15 years, so having something to call their own has been a great source of pride for Baker and the WSU players.
Worcester State University and the Worcester State Foundation contributed $540,000 toward a $2.8 million, multiyear renovation project of Rockwood Field on city-owned property adjacent to the school's north parking lot. The field was dedicated to the late Lyons, a Worcester State Hall of Famer and lifelong supporter of the program, in April.
"Baker didn't want it to get ruined," Bonofiglio said, "and we had the same idea. We didn't want it to get ruined either."
Baker, 10 players and Worcester State board of trustees members John Brissette and George Albro saw to it that didn't happen.
For hours that afternoon, they lifted and lugged sandbags, tires, posts, lumber, folding tables — whatever they could get their hands on — and built a series of barriers, the main barricade about 30 feet long outside the right-field fence, hoping to get the water to flow away from the field and into the abutting wetlands.
"We were trying to make a dam," Perlak said.
Next, they found and cleared the drains around the field.
"The kids busted their tails," Baker said. "They came down here not knowing what to expect. I think they were stunned."
Their system seemed to work, but when Baker went home that night, soaked and exhausted, he wasn't sure what he'd find the next morning.
"The water drained," Baker said. "I moved all the stuff away, swept up the debris, and by Wednesday (two days later), it was as if nothing had happened."
A small amount of water did trickle onto the edge of the right-field warning track, but it dried quickly and there was no damage.
This week, the field looked to be in outstanding condition. Play ball!
"The best thing about a team is when you have a group with a common goal, you can accomplish things," Baker said. "I think the kids enjoyed working together and it's pretty good when you see everybody working together for a common goal."