James B. Miller Stadium has the WOW factor

(Editor’s Note: UW-Whitewater’s baseball field turned into UW-Whitewater’s baseball stadium in 2009. It didn’t take long for Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium to become known as one of the finest small college baseball facilities in the country,

Coming up Saturday, May 7th the official dedication ceremony will take place between games of the Warhawk baseball team’s doubleheader vs. UW-La Crosse.

I sat down with James “Mills” Miller Thursday morning in his office at Williams Center to talk about Miller, the new stadium, Warhawk baseball, and the number of “iconic” head coaches at UW-Whitewater over the past 30 years.)

The UW-Whitewater baseball team has called James B. Miller home for the past two seasons. The renovation of Prucha Field into an elite college baseball facility has drawn plenty of praise by “friend and foe” alike.

“I think that the former (UW-Whitewater) players that didn’t have what we have now probably summed it up best on their first look at the new stadium,” Miller tells voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com. “Basically the comment is ‘WOW’ where was THIS when I was playing?’”

Why the WOW FACTOR?
The $900,000 facility upgrade included a synthetic turf infield, an upgraded sound system, new warning track and outfield fence, state-of-the-art scoreboard, new masonry backstop with suspended netting, extensions to the dugouts, new bullpens, underground irrigation in the outfield and an indoor shower and bathroom.
The renovation has resulted in Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium being among the finest in all of NCAA Division III baseball.
“In all of amateur baseball in the United States, and that is a pretty big statement, there probably isn’t more than five that have the aesthetics that we have,” Miller claims. “They may have more seats, better amenities, but as far as what it looks like when you come through the entryway you are kind off in awe.”
The current renovated stadium is actually just the first phase of the original two phase project.
The Prucha Field at James B. Miller Stadium that is being dedicated on Saturday is actually just the first phase of the project. The second phase will include the Tom Lange scoreboard operation area, suite area, media area, etc.
(Please note the photo above of a rendering of what the added area above the current seating area will look like.)
I asked Mills if “phase 2” is still in the works.
“We will get to phase two,” Miller tells me. “One way or another we’ll get there. We’ll have to get ‘our hand dirty a little bit. If you were out there (at the stadium on Wednesday) you would have seen the Warhawk baseball team on there day off laying sod! That is what Warhawk baseball is all about.”

On my next installment: What was the motivation for the new stadium. That will be coming up Friday morning here on voiceseyeonbaseball.blogspot.com.