SOMERSET — Steve Costea noticed his Somerset baseball players walked onto the field for their first practice this season with their heads down and their eyes focused on the infield.

The Golden Eagles weren’t sulking over a tough loss or a controversial call.

Instead, the Somerset team marvelled at the new artificial playing surface that covers the high school’s infield. The only dirt remaining is at the pitcher’s mound.

Even home plate is comprised of the modern turf, which is a mix of bright red-brown on the base paths and dark green on the infield.

“The first time they walked out to the field, everybody was looking down at the ground and walking,” Costea said prior to Monday’s 9-4 loss to visiting Richland in the second home game at the renovated facility. “Now they go out and it’s sort of like, ‘It’s ours.’ It belongs to us. It’s a pride factor.”

There is plenty for Somerset students, parents, teachers and administrators to be proud of on the baseball field.

Among the amenities are new dugouts, an upgraded scoreboard, locker room, concession stand, restrooms, press box and 12-foot-high fencing that encircles the entire complex. Seating still is available behind the backstop, but an additional row of bleachers also was installed behind the center field fence as part of a small patio area where the American flag is displayed and spotlighted at night. The grass outfield remains, though it has been re-seeded and rolled.

“The infield turf already saved us a game against Johnstown last week,” Costea said of an April 8 game played after a heavy rain. “A thunderstorm rolled through at 3 o’clock. We waited it out and as soon as it was over the field was ready to play.”

The baseball field complements an already impressive renovation project that included an artificial playing surface at the football field as well as a spacious press box and a field house that includes locker rooms and training rooms as well as coaches offices.

“If you look where we were six years ago to now it’s really something,” said Costea, who also is the football coach. “With the new stadium facility (for football), that is used by everyone – soccer, track and the community. The football field is used all the time. This baseball field is here to be used. You can’t wear out the turf. It’s a community thing. Our teams take great pride in it and they take care of it. As long as the community takes care of it, this will be here for a long time.”

The Golden Eagles traditionally are among the region’s top baseball teams.

Two years ago, Somerset won the District 6-AAA title and advanced to the state championship game.

Somerset’s baseball team and the highly successful Somerset American Legion program each use the baseball field.

Coaches, players and volunteers tended to the facility over the years, making upgrades when possible and maintaining the grass and dirt field. Those efforts didn’t go unnoticed.

“Since Randy Close was here and Bob Mayer was here, we’ve put hours and hours into the field,” Costea said, naming two well-known former Somerset coaches.

“We always had the grass infield and we put a lot of time and effort into it. We built the original dugouts. All the hard work that those men and myself put into it over those years, people turned around and said, ‘Hey, we need to do something.’ Things were still good but we needed a facility upgrade and when we did it, we did it correctly. The administration here had the foresight to see what needed to be done and they knew it had to be done top notch.”

Top notch is an accurate description.

“We’ve got all new fencing all the way around, 12 feet high,” Costea said. “We have a new backstop, a new press box, new dugouts, it’s a whole brand-new facility. We have a locker room facility and we have our batting tunnels in the fieldhouse in our new facility over there. It’s just something that’s quality for the kids. It’s something you can take pride in and say, ‘Hey, this is Somerset baseball.’ ”

Costea said the artificial surface and drainage “cost around $140,000” and that the project cost “between $500,000 and $650,000.”

Somerset Athletic Director Scott Close said that costs for man hours and materials to maintain the former playing surface were computed prior to the project. When those numbers are considered, Close said the price tag on the playing surface actually is significantly less.

Either way, both Close and Costea view the field as a community asset as well as a first-rate complex for the high school program.

“How many turf fields do you have around?” Costea said. “Not many that belong to a high school. It was something that was needed and it is top notch. Nothing is too good for our kids. We have the tradition here and these kids work hard at what they do, and they deserve to play on a field like this.”

Golden Eagles senior left fielder Dylan Brant is glad to be a part of the first team on the newly renovated home.

“It’s a big change and a lot of new things,” Brant said. “We were pretty excited to come out and play on it. There is a ton of pride in this. We have more fans coming out already just because we have a new facility and they’re excited to see us play.”

There have been adjustments, much the same as when AAABA League players adapted to the installation of a similar surface at Point Stadium several years ago.

“You’ve got to slide a little sooner because it’s a lot quicker,” Brant said.

But that minor change is nothing compared to the impact the surface will have on the schedule.

“We used to have a lot of trouble getting on the field due to the wet weather in the spring,” Brant said. “Not now.”