Ags to get covered training facility thanks to $900K donor pledge
Johnsons: ‘We want to make sure baseball team is taken care of’
LAS CRUCES — Longtime New Mexico State donors Mike and Judy Johnson have pledged $900,000 toward the construction of a covered training facility, the university announced Friday.
Architectural firm HOK designed the 4,500-square foot structure, to be built on the thirdbase side of Presley Askew Field, with a nod toward getting out of the late-season heat in April and May that can limit outdoor practices. It is expected to be ready at some point during the 2020 season.
The new facility has plans for an open-air design — no walls, doors or heat — but exterior screens, a standing seam roof and protected Powerfoil X3.0 ceiling fans, which market themselves as “the biggest, baddest and toughest … on the planet.”
It will house three designated hitting locations, along with two dual-use hitting and pitching areas.
The Johnsons already had made a major gift to NMSU baseball — $1.4 million in 2013 that went to the baseball stadium’s renovations.
“We want to make sure the baseball team is taken care of,” Mike Johnson said in a statement from the university. “And to be competitive, you not only have to have talented players, you need a place where they can play and improve, where their hard work meets opportunity.”
Athletic director Mario Moccia called it “another major step in creating one of the premier college baseball stadium complexes in the Southwest.” NMSU said it hopes the addition not only raises the profile of Aggie baseball, but helps attract an NCAA Tournament regional at some point. The Aggies went 38-17 this spring and won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title. Since then they lost head coach Brian Green to Washington State, but replaced him with Mike Kirby, most recently (2014-19) an assistant at Nebraska.