As part of a four-phased project for its baseball team, ACU kicked off a $15-million renovation and expansion of a 1991 stadium. The refresh introduced a home locker room with direct dugout access, a meeting room, training rooms, offices, press box, concessions and a 959-seat precast concrete seating bowl with a sun-shade canopy. Scope on the project’s first phase included demolishing the existing first baseline seating to make way for a new structure composed of steel and precast concrete on a new drilled pier foundation system. Phase 2 included the press box, concessions area, public restrooms, the home plate grandstand seating and visitor seating lounge.

With just under nine months to complete work, the project’s aggressive schedule was one of the most significant challenges. The same week construction mobilized, the scope of work doubled due to contributions from new donors. This new scope contained critical path areas for game days, such as the press box, public restrooms and home plate grandstand seating, but the original completion date remained unchanged. Getting early buy-in from trade partners, particularly when it came to work hours and expediting materials, was imperative.

Photo courtesy Linbeck

During Phase 2, which included significant structural scope, design ran concurrently with construction. Crews set 89 piers ranging from 23 ft to 26 ft in depth and 18 in. to 36 in. in diameter along with the stadium seating bowl consisting of 53 pieces of precast concrete that weighed up to 12,418 lb.

Throughout construction, summer baseball camps were held next door and football games went forward at the neighboring stadium as campus activity went on uninterrupted. Extensive coordination for planned shutdowns as well as changes to working hours, digging activities and delivery schedules and the use of jobsite fencing all helped to prevent any disruptions.

Completed on time and within budget in April 2025, the 16,670-sq-ft stadium now has 1,566 theater-style seats and multiple new amenities. Future phases may include a new premium club level, pitching lab and 448-seat visitor seating bowl along the third base line as well as renovations to the existing ticket booth.

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