Diamond Hogs Clear Field; Set for Monday Twinbill

[Mike Irwin]

FAYETTEVILLE--After a cancelled game on Saturday and another game postponed on Sunday the Diamond Hogs are set to return to play in a Monday doubleheader against Eastern Illinois at Baum Stadium. Head Coach Dave Van Horn, his staff and players hit the field Sunday afternoon to clear the infield tarp of snow.

It was originally planned to melt some of the snow by applying fertilizer to the outfield and let warmer weather do the rest of the job however by 5:45 pm on Monday Van Horn reported that the team had successfully cleared the entire field of snow and the team was ready to "play two."

Arkansas has not played since Sunday, February 22 when the Hogs lost to Maryland. The layoff is the longest in-season stretch since since 1984.
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To see video of coach Van Horn and his players clearing snow at Buam Stadium click on the link below:
http://www.nwahomepage.com/fulltextsports/d/story/diamond-hogs-pitch-in-for-snow-removal/18322/-YacQKn3DE2lQ9rEJV4edA

[jcpack]

Is this something the team chose to do? Seems a bit strange that the university doesn't have a grounds crew to take care of this sort of thing!

[yraciv]

Is this something the team chose to do? Seems a bit strange that the university doesn't have a grounds crew to take care of this sort of thing!

They do have a grounds crew, but not near enough people employed to make that a quick process.  If this was to get done in a timely manner, everyone around the facility was going to have to chip in and who would be better at moving snow than college athletes?

[SPAL]

It isn't anything new for a baseball team to work the field to get things ready.

[WhenPigsFly]

And from the pics, it appeared DVH was manning a shovel as well!

[flippinhogmana]

And from the pics, it appeared DVH was manning a shovel as well!

It isn't anything new for a baseball team to work the field to get things ready.

Nor is it new for hs athletes either.  The only exception to all that is generally union agreements.

[lowandaway]

Nice job

[Mike Irwin]

And from the pics, it appeared DVH was manning a shovel as well!

When I first arrived Van Horn and Pat Berger, the head of the grounds crew for the athletic department, were the only ones shoveling. The other coaches and players came out maybe fifteen minutes later.

Berger told me at the time that they were clearing the infield so they could get the tarp up, if needed, on Monday (today) but they were going to need some help in the form of rising temperatures to get the outfield cleared.

After I left Van Horn made a decision to clear it manually with the shovels. By 5 pm they had it done. Pretty amazing. Hopefully the players won't be dragging around today. They're young and in good shape but they did a butt load of physical labor to clear the entire field.

[jcpack]

Trust me, I think it's pretty cool. Part of the reason I love baseball so much! Guys don't mind putting in a little blue collar work.  Just surprised me to see DVH and crew taking on the snow. Guess it shouldn't have!