If you build it, they will come!
Atlantic Cape Community College officially broke ground on its new $1.48 million baseball field of dreams on its Mays Landing campus on February 15. This will permanently bring the Buccaneers’ baseball program home in time for the 2025 season after spending the past decade playing its home games at Surf Stadium in Atlantic City.
To drum up support for this ambitious project, the Atlantic Cape Foundation created the “Bring it Home” fundraising campaign in 2020 and thanks to the generosity of its donors raised $186,000. After several years of planning, fundraising, architectural design, environmental approvals, community and alumni outreach, construction began in early February as excavators descended upon the parcel of land situated behind the Rutgers Lifelong Learning Center.
Atlantic Cape, which is currently the only community college in the State of New Jersey to not have a baseball field on its campus, leaving the college at a distinct disadvantage as local student athletes decided to commit to other colleges and universities to continue their studies and baseball careers, is confident that constructing a state-of-the-art National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regulation baseball field will entice student athletes from across Atlantic and Cape May counties to consider Atlantic Cape first when deciding upon which undergraduate institution of higher education they want to commit to.
Head Coach Craig Muckle, who was hired last summer to lead the Buccaneers’ baseball program into the future, spoke of his excitement at giving local student athletes the chance to play the sport they love in their home county while earning their associate’s degree.
“To be able to have a home field, as a young athlete, is huge. Atlantic Cape, first and foremost, is about academics, but we realize that along with those academics that you only get to play sports for so long,” Muckle said. “To be able to have a field and a team with camaraderie for a few more years along with that pride and connection to your school, friends and county is amazing.”
On hand to revel in the celebration of the dawning of this new era of Atlantic Cape athletics were three alumni and former Buccaneer baseball players from the Class of 1968, Ricky Williams, Bobby Woods, who was drafted professionally by the Chicago Cubs in the fourth round of the 1969 draft and the Buccaneers’ head coach in 1976 as well, and Nehmad.
Once completed, the new baseball field will feature a state-of-the-art digital scoreboard in center field, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bleachers along both baselines for spectator seating, two enclosed dugouts and two 80’x30’ bullpens. The field dimensions will measure 330 feet down the left and right field lines and 400 feet to straight away center field. Lights and a clubhouse, which were featured in the original architectural renderings, will be added at a later date.
“Being on the baseball team at Atlantic Cape involves more than just playing ball. It is about building character and being successful academically. Over the last decade our coaches have worked tirelessly to guide our players to grow as athletes, students and citizens,” Gaba said.
