When approached by Greg Meeks of TLI Sports, Clearwater, FL with the opportunity to provide UltraBaseSystems® to a professional baseball training facility as the base for a test area to allow team management to become acquainted with synthetic turf, we jumped on the opportunity.
The area of the facility that was in need of a face lift was the training area that the catchers utilized for conditioning and drills. This particular site was located between two of the natural grass playing fields. Standing water and uneven terrain was an issue with the existing natural grass so we knew we had an easy solution with UltraBaseSystems®.
The ground crew removed a few inches of the existing grass and added a bit of stone, ready for TLI to compact, an underground drain system was already in place. In an hour with the plate compactor and some careful raking, the proper grading was easily achieved in this 1500 ft² plot. The area was measured and strings carefully placed creating the guide for panel installation.
Panel Installation
Panels were delivered to the site ready for installation.
The Tencate high flow woven geo was rolled out and secured with panels to prevent movement.
We pre-cut panels on two sides of the area which left us a solid interior wall on the outer row of panels.
The experienced team made easy work of installing the panels. In just an hour or so the panels were installed and trimmed around the center home plate area and along the untrimmed outer two sides.
The panels were blown off and the 1.5-inch turf was quickly rolled onto the panels and allowed to relax in the sun for the remainder of the day.
Turf Adhesion
The following day the TLI crew was back at it, seaming and gluing the turf.
Once dry, the turf was trimmed, rubber infill applied, and the turf secured to the outer perimeter of the panels and buried into the existing perimeter soil.
The ground crew was right behind TLI adding additional warning track material around the new catcher’s area.
The color of the synthetic turf was a perfect match and could not have looked more natural.
We want to thank the facility management and the team at TLI Sports for allowing us the honor to be part of this project, and look forward to the reviews of the players when the team arrives in sunny Florida in a few weeks for the start of the spring training.
