The Hartford Yard Goats are back at Dunkin Park for a six-game homestand against the Somerset Patriots, the New York Yankee Double-A affiliate. But the players aren’t the only ones who have had to put in a lot of pregame work recently.
“They said as long as it doesn't rain two hours before game time, we'd be good to go and we were kind of like 'yeah, that's what they say,'” said Hartford second baseman Kyle Datres.
He and the other players were understandably skeptical. On July 5, a deluge of rain soaked the outfield. The warning track looked more like a splash pad.
“Just give me two hours and we'll get this field playable,” said Matt Piersanti, the team’s field operations manager.
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With some hard work and great drainage, he made good on his word. Piersanti is in his second season leading the Goats’ field crew. A Connecticut local himself, he played high school ball at Guilford.
“I just found that I really loved being outside, working on a baseball field and I figured if I couldn't play, I might as well be the one cleaning it up,” Piersanti said.
It’s a little more than that. Piersanti knows there’s a standard to uphold. The field has more than once earned “Field of the Year” honors.
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The players know it too, but before they can thank the crew, which they do, Piersanti said, there’s a tell before they ever get a word out.
“If I ever hear a player hitting their cleats against a cement wall, that means that there's good moisture in the infield so that's kind of my way, I don't necessarily hear them talking about it but if I hear them doing that,” Piersanti said.
Hartford is at Dunkin Park through July 23.
