With baseball season less than a month away, students driving down Nicholson Drive probably notice construction workers staying busy in and around the new Alex Box Stadium.But the stadium will be ready for opening day, according to Herb Vincent, senior associate athletic director, and Eddie Nunez, associate athletic director of operations and project development.Nunez said the main structure of the stadium is intact. The concession stands and restrooms are done, 90 percent of the painting is finished and the handrails are being put in place, according to Nunez.He also said placing the outside gates that will secure the stadium started more than a week ago and is continuing throughout the week. He also said the larger parking lot on the west side of the stadium — the side closer to the river — is nearing completion, and the other parking lot was started Tuesday morning.”We should have both of those lots by the first game, unless we get a lot of rain,” Nunez said.The new stadium’s expected completion date was set for Dec. 23, 2008, according to a copy of the original contract obtained by The Daily Reveille.  The contractors were contracted to pay overage charges of $3,000 per day if the stadium was not completed on time.”Rain … did not really delay us from the standpoint of construction,” Nunez said. “But it did pull them off the project, and it went over their days allowable for rain delays. Then they had to do some additional small things to get back on track … But there are no delays on any of the projects that are not related to rain.”Nunez said the state keeps a record of how many days it rains in an average month, and the construction company is allowed a certain amount of rain days based on that number. Whenever the number of rain days goes over the number allotted for that month, the company is given that many days more to complete the facility.Nunez said the contractors haven’t had to pay any of those overage charges so far because their contract completion date is not until February because of the rain days.”I’m not going to hold anyone accountable right now because they are doing everything in their power to get it done for our first pitch,” Nunez said. New Alex Box project manager Jake Mayo from Buquet and LeBlanc, the company heading the construction, deferred all questions from The Daily Reveille to Nunez. Mayo also did not return calls regarding construction rain days and any overage charges.The baseball team may get into the new stadium as early as Feb. 1, which would allow the team 19 days of practice before its Feb. 20 home opener against Villanova, according to Nunez and Vincent.The walk-through on the field with the designer is planned for early next week to make sure the field is up to playing standards, Nunez said. Once approval is given from the field designers and the fire marshal, the team can take the field.Vincent said while the field in new Alex Box Stadium is ready for play, the team is still not allowed inside because of safety issues.LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said he is not panicking about the stadium, but he wants his team to get on the new field as soon as possible.”Getting on the field and getting a significant amount of practice time is an important thing for us,” Mainieri said. “Every baseball field is so different. It’s not like a football field or a soccer field or a basketball court where the texture is pretty much the same. Baseball fields are so unique because of the combination of grass and clay. The mounds are different and so are the backgrounds for the hitter’s eye.”Mainieri said he is hopeful the team will get at least three weeks of practice on the new field before the opener.TIGER PARKGetting on a new field to practice on is also a concern for LSU’s softball team as it moves into a new stadium.The Tigers began practice on their new field last week but are still limited in how long they can practice on the field, according to Nunez.”We are still trying to work on the canopy,” Nunez said. “From a safety standpoint, I don’t want one of the girls hitting a foul ball and hitting a roofer.”LSU softball coach Yvette Girouard also said her team needs time on the new field.”The whole orientation of where we are playing is different — the stadium is facing different, the wind blows from the river so much different from where we are now,” Girouard said. “Right now where we are, the sun in the afternoon is in second base and right fielder’s eyes. Over at the new Tiger Park, it’s going to be in third base and left field, so consequently we are staying in the first base dugout.”The home opener for the Tigers is Feb. 11 against McNeese State.The new Tiger Park, which was scheduled to be completed in November, is still on pace to be completed by the Tigers’ home opener, according to Vincent and Nunez.OUT WITH THE OLDThe future of the two old stadiums is still up in the air, Nunez said.”Everything has been proposed from a parking lot to retail to housing,” Nunez said about the old Alex Box. “What we want to do is recognize that old Alex Box was there and give her some kind of memory. It’s a main entrance to the campus, and we want to make sure that whatever is done there represents the University to the best.”Nunez said Tiger Park’s press box may be used at LSU Soccer Complex, which is in need of a press box because the original one was blown down during Hurricane Gustav.—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]