One Week to Opening Day

One Week to Opening Day

By Megan Tennyson

It may still be chilly outside, but baseball season is about to get underway in Syracuse. They're prepping the new grass at Alliance Bank Stadium for opening day. The grounds crews are hard at work on the field. For the first time in the stadium's history, baseball will be played on more than 100,000 square feet of real grass.

Wes Ganobcik is the head groundskeeper. He says making the field look good is "a big challenge." He spent the last baseball season working with the Baltimore Orioles.

Syracuse weather has been a different challenge for him. Ganobcik says, "It was a very rough winter for us. It's been a tough ease into spring. We haven't had the weather to cooperate."

Workers have been pounding at the field for the past three days. They've got shovels and lawn mowers out, trying to get things ready for opening day next Thursday. The difference between real grass and the old artificial turf is grass presents a battle against nature.

Grounds crews say it'll be several more weeks before the grass starts looking great. The weather has to warm up a few more degrees. But soon, Central New Yorkers will be able to take in some real baseball on real grass.

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