First Season For Frates Center Gets Underway This Week

When Boston College last played a baseball game at the Harrington Athletics Village, the Pete Frates Center was a husk under construction. The frame cast its shadows over the first base lines of both the baseball and softball fields, but the signs of a construction zone left no doubt of its incomplete status. After the season abridged, it served to watch over the Boston Red Sox auxiliary training camp, a reminder of the clash between what was lost in 2020 and what was on the horizon for the Eagles.

It came to a head in the fall when Boston College returned to the diamond it abandoned when COVID-19's outbreak canceled its spring season. In those first weeks of practice, the doors opened on the Frates Center, and as the 2021 season launches, it's now the glittering symbol of the rebirth of Birdball and the future of a centerpiece sport for an ACC school.

"You can't quantify the impact (of the Frates Center)," head coach Mike Gambino said. "It's impossible, just the idea of the constant development that is going to happen in that building. From the training room to the weight room to the cages, the pitchers being able to get in their work and the constant development, it's massive. It has that feeling that it gives us, as a program, when we have the ability to get into a clubhouse and get in our work for practice."

From a pure baseball perspective, the 31,000-square foot facility offers nearly every option for a student-athlete's individual development. Its indoor turf practice area has seven individual cages, all of which can easily convert to a pitcher's mound and net from a batter's box with tee with mechanized pitching machines. The dividing nets are also retractable and offer the ability to roll infield and ground ball practice in the centerpiece area.

Outside, a terrace overlooks the baseball stadium for fans once they are allowed to attend games. Inside, the building's guts include sparkling new locker rooms adorned with sport-specific logos and areas for both training and recovery are dedicated solely for baseball and softball use.

It's a tribute to the batted ball sports and light years from the cold, wet conditions behind Alumni Stadium. Just three years ago, BC shoveled out its own batting tunnels in order to take outdoor practice during the harsh winter months. It was an annual, routine occurrence for a team that rarely hosted a game before April, weather permitting, at a stadium with temporary fencing and concrete pillars down the right field line that served to hold up the football stadium's parking ramp.

That same program is now the one that hosted the Boston Red Sox when the cancellation of the minor league season and the expansion of Major League Baseball rosters made it impossible to social distance at Fenway Park. The inclusion of that "taxi squad" required off-site work, and the Red Sox, long hosts to BC in annual spring training games, set up shop in Brighton as one of two secondary training sites.

"The way we can get ready for a game changes the entire feel of the program," Gambino said. "We've heard from those guys who played on Shea Field, and they talk about the program as unrecognizable in a good way."

It's the embodiment of the second phase of construction at the Harrington Athletics Village and the product of donor funding through the university's Greater Heights campaign, but it represents so much more to the players and coaches who remember shoveling batting tunnels just three years ago. It's a baseball factory in a baseball market and a collegiate stamp on a region long defined by its ties to the most historic franchise in the game.

That Pete Frates' name and likeness adorns the building itself only adds to the instantaneous mystique. Reminders of Frates' presence in the program are everywhere; the screen in the training area is a replica of the Green Monster and pays tribute to the former BC outfielder, while the building serves as a reminder to the greater mission of Boston College and the program's unwavering commitment to serve as "men and women for others."

It's a perfect, meticulous tribute to the cross-section between both Frates and his old baseball program. Last year, the cancellation of the college baseball season shuttered BC and sent the Eagles into a wilderness beyond the diamond. The field remained in the public eye when the Red Sox practiced there, but Birdball's return opened eyes to the complete transformation. Those alterations have BC primed for great things well beyond this year even if the culture and fabric hasn't changed one bit.

"It's not a knock to any publication because we are honored that people are talking about us," Gambino said, "but we didn't care when people picked us last and we went to the postseason. That means we can't care when people are picking us (to finish higher). We care about what's happening within our program, and that's a completely different perception. We were sort of an afterthought in a lot of ways, and it's completely different now."

Boston College opens its 2021 season on Friday when it travels to Charleston Southern for a three-game series. The first pitch of the first game is set for 3 p.m. with first pitch on Saturday scheduled for 1:30 p.m. The third game on Sunday will kick off at noon.

First Season For Frates Center Gets Underway This Week

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