Vernon Hills HS infield will be artificial turf

Starting next season, the Vernon Hills High School varsity baseball team will be the first in the suburbs to play home games on artificial turf.

The Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 board agreed Monday to replace the grass infield with a man-made surface.

The move -- combined with some underground drainage improvements -- is designed to eliminate the wet conditions the field experiences every spring after heavy rains. The flooding has forced the team to postpone or relocate games and practices.

J.E.M. Morris Construction, a Big Rock firm, will be paid $252,000 for the work, which should begin soon, District 128 Assistant Superintendent Yasmine Dada said.

The district will cover most of the project's cost. About $30,000 will be funded by private donations, Dada said.

The company's bid was the least expensive of 12 the district received. All were above the district's initial $170,000 estimate for the project.

The final price likely was higher than anticipated, Dada said, because of the economy and the scope of the work to be done.

The new surface should be ready by mid-October, Dada said, in plenty of time for the 2009 baseball season.

The outfield will remain grass. District officials have said resurfacing the entire field with artificial turf would be too expensive.

Chicago's Clemente High School is the only school in the state with an artificial turf baseball field now, according to the Illinois High School Association.

The varsity baseball field at Libertyville High School has a ring of artificial turf near the batter's boxes, but it doesn't extend onto the rest of the playing field.

Artificial turf is more common -- but still relatively rare -- on high school football fields. In Lake County, Lake Zurich, Grayslake Central, Carmel Catholic in Mundelein and Libertyville have synthetic football fields.