When Paul Mainieri arrived as the new coach of the LSU baseball team in June, he entered the job with the assumption that his first season would be LSU’s last in the current Alex Box Stadium. But because of factors beyond Mainieri’s control, the Tigers will not play regular season baseball in the new Alex Box until spring 2009. “I’m a little bit disappointed,” Mainieri told the Associated Press. “But I also understand things happen, and there can be delays with construction. Myself and the players will just have to wait another year, that’s all.” In addition to the setback in Alex Box’s construction, the new Tiger Park might not see softball action until the beginning of 2009 as well. Associate Athletic Director Eddie Nunez said, among other things, the bidding process for contractors to build the new facilities has caused construction to fall behind the original schedule. “We’re being pushed back a little bit, but it’s nothing that we can control,” Nunez said. “It’s better to be done the right way then to go ahead with something and it be done the wrong way.” The Daily Reveille reported July 27 that groundbreaking for both stadiums was tentatively set for Nov. 1, 2006. When renderings for both stadiums were unveiled in July, Athletic Director Skip Bertman said the “ballpark figure” for the cost of the new Alex Box Stadium was $23 million. Bertman said Thursday that figure is now about $25 million. The Tiger Athletic Foundation will pay about 18 percent, or $4.5 million, of the cost while the remaining funds will come from a bond the athletic department will have to pay back to the state. Bertman said the costs of rebuilding LSU facilities in New Orleans that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina have put construction of new baseball and softball venues on the back burner. “The hurricane caused a lot of projects in New Orleans at [the University of New Orleans] at the medical school and other LSU facilities in New Orleans [to take] priority over softball and baseball, and rightfully so,” Bertman said. “The hurricane caused a lot of changes … The state did what they had to do.” Bids have already come back for constructing Tiger Park, and Nunez said the current estimated cost is about $6.9 million. Louisiana contractors begin bidding on prices for the construction of the new Alex Box two weeks ago. Jody Gascon, one of the lead architects for the new Alex Box, said contractors were given approximately one month to prepare their prices. “The contractors have until, I believe, April 5 to turn in a price,” Gascon said. Bertman said he does not forecast any baseball being played in the new Alex Box Stadium until September 2008. “[Coach Mainieri] will be able to move into the stadium in September and have it for the whole year, which is good because he’ll be able to practice all fall in the new stadium,” he said. No target date has been set to begin construction on the ballparks. “[The architects] have told us baseball is going to be a 12 to 14 month construction process,” Nunez said. Bertman, on the other hand, said Alex Box will be a 14 to 16 month process, and his goal is for the stadium to be constructed and fully operational by Aug. 31, 2008. Nunez added that construction on the new Tiger Park would take 10-12 months to complete. LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard said she tries not to dwell on the fact that a new Tiger Park has been discussed for six years and nothing has been built as of yet. “We’ve been told we were going to have a new stadium when we took the job,” Girouard said. “I’m at a point now where I’ll just believe it when I see it … When it’s open, we’ll play in it.” The designing of the new Alex Box Stadium was a joint effort between DLR Group from Omaha, Neb., and Baton Rouge-based Grace and Hebert Architects. The new Alex Box will be located at the corner of Nicholson Drive and Gourrier Lane, less than a mile south of the current stadium. Trahan Architects, a Baton Rouge company, designed the new Tiger Park, which will be built on Skip Bertman Drive across from the University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.
—–Contact Tyler Batiste at [email protected]