MITCHELL — The upgrades keep coming for Drake Field.
After installing turf last year , the Mitchell baseball field is set to add a new 7-foot by 25-foot-long scoreboard later this year.
When the scoreboard goes up is still up in the air, with Mitchell Sports Complex Supervisor Jeremy Nielsen saying there’s about a "50/50 chance" it goes up by June 2. Nielsen said the tentative ship date of the scoreboard is May 11 and that the process would need to move quickly if it arrives on time.
“There is a small window in there because I don't want to tear the other one down because we got games going,” Nielsen said. “And then to take the other one down, take the I-beams out, put the new I-beams in, put the new scoreboard in, but we would have to have that ready by the first weekend of June. …
“There is a chance we can get it up by them. But other than that we would just hold on to it until after the state tournament and then put it in the fall.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The scoreboard at Drake Field will be about 10 feet smaller than the one just across the parking lot at Cadwell Park. Muth Electric donated the entirety of the scoreboard, contributing around $28,500 to pay for it, as well as doing all of the electrical work that will be required to set up the scoreboard for free.
Muth Electric wrote a check to the city of Mitchell, which owns Drake Field, which in turn paid Daktronics for the scoreboard. The ballpark is the home diamond for the Dakota Wesleyan University baseball team and gets plenty of use during the summer from youth, Legion and amateur teams.
“We just think Mitchell baseball is a pretty neat deal,” Dick Muth, the founder and former CEO of Muth Electric, said. “We just want to help the community when we can, especially when it’s something that we’re passionate about.”
The plans for an upgraded scoreboard have been in the works for about a year and a half, according to Tim Smith, a member of the board for Mitchell Baseball Association.
The scoreboard will feature the Muth Electric logo in the top right corner, “Drake Field” in the top left corner and “Home of the DWU Tigers” across the bottom, as shown in the photo below. The only difference in the photo and what the scoreboard will look like is the background behind “Drake Field” will be white to match the Muth Electric background, with green text for “Drake Field.”
“This one is very similar (to the scoreboard at Cadwell). It’s going to look almost similar,” Smith said. “It’s about 10 feet smaller in width, which for Drake Field is going to be outstanding. It’s going to be nice.”
The Trust Project
