LANCASTER'S FIELD OF GREEN; AWARD-WINNING GROUNDSKEEPER READYING JETHAWKS STADIUM.Byline: Romy Jacobson Daily News Staff Writer Baseball is a game of strategy: getting a player into scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on might mean signaling the next batter to lay down a sacrifice bunt. Maintaining the field at Lancaster Municipal Stadium is a game of strategy too: the right balance of fertilizer for the sandy soil, just eight minutes of watering every other day to keep the greens from becoming too dependent on water, a riding mower for the outfield and a finer-cutting walking mower for the infield. The man in charge of keeping the field green, the foul lines chalked, and the stands clean for the Lancaster JetHawks The Lancaster JetHawks are a minor league baseball team in Lancaster, California, USA. They are a Class-A Advanced team in the California League, and are a farm team of the Boston Red Sox. is stadium groundskeeper David Pfatenhauer, who has spent more than two decades maintaining baseball fields. He started with the Sylmar High School Sylmar High School is a public school in the northeast San Fernando Valley in the Sylmar district of Los Angeles, California. Established in the 1950s, it is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District, District 2, and serves more than 3,600 students in grades 9-12. baseball field when he was a student there, then spent 17 years working at College of the Canyons College of the Canyons is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the state. According to the National Junior College Research Association, College of the Canyons consistently ranks in the top 50 community colleges in the nation. in Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, . This is his second year at the city-owned stadium, which is starting its third minor league season. ``This is my life. This is what I grew up doing,'' says 42-year-old Pfatenhauer. ``I'm a very happy man at this job.'' Since the 1997 season ended, Pfatenhauer and two other city groundskeepers have spent four hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mowing the lawn, which is reseeded with winter grasses for the off-season. Every 15 days the field gets one-half pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet. The sprinklers are turned on for eight minutes every other day. With the JetHawks' opening game April 2, Pfatenhauer's crew has added 16 seasonal workers, who work round-the-clock keeping the field in shape. ``When the team is here the city of Lancaster The City of Lancaster (2002 population: 133,914) is a local government district with city status in Lancashire, England. Its main town is Lancaster, from which it obtained its city status. Other towns in the district include Morecambe, Heysham, Slyne, and Carnforth. is here 24 hours a day,'' says city Parks Supervisor Dan Munz. ``When the team is here playing you have a routine every home game.'' After each home game, six workers come in to pick up trash and clean up the stadium, finishing by 6 a.m. the next day. Then the field crew arrives to compact the pitching mound and batter's box Noun 1. batter's box - an area on a baseball diamond (on either side of home plate) marked by lines within which the batter must stand when at bat baseball diamond, infield, diamond - the area of a baseball field that is enclosed by 3 bases and home plate , mowing and watering the lawn on the scheduled days. Fifty pounds of chalk go on the base lines each game - 3,500 pounds a year. Pfatenhauer and his crew recently won the California Parks and Recreation Society award for best maintenance program for cities with populations over 100,000. Cities throughout California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii competed for this award, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Munz. For anyone who's ever wondered how the grass at Lancaster Municipal Stadium stays so green even in the middle of winter, it's a combination of Bermuda and perennial rye. ``In this area Bermuda goes dormant and turns brown when it freezes,'' says Munz. ``Perennial rye stays green all winter long. It's planted in the fall and stays green all winter and then we have this beautiful green field for opening day.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Dave Pfatenhauer, groundskeeper at the JetHawks Stadium in Lancaster, uses a walking mower to give a fine cut to the infield grass. (2--Color) Dave Pfatenhauer recently won an award for his groundskeeping Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes; typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. A person who engages in this work is called a groundskeeper. . John Lazar/Special to the Daily News |
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