Drainage on a baseball field is key to the success of the program as a whole.
Baseball field drainage tile.
Each have a slight fall of about 1 that allows the water to naturally flow in the pipe.
So when the j d turf team was tasked to remedy an infield drainage issue at university of indianapolis tom mahaney and steve berg chronicled their work with photos.
Professional field systems are sand based meaning they are constructed of 8 to 10 inches of sand on top of 4 inches of gravel.
Sports field drainage design includes a number of concerns not least among them is drainage.
Additionally poor quality soil is commonly used on baseball infields which can cause the field to retain too much water.
You will notice in the drawing below how we usually correct or prevent the drainage problems on a baseball field.
Drainage is a very broad topic that will someday be a chapter in a book so we will focus this article on surface drainage for baseball and softball fields.
This type of design requires a sub drainage system that includes a series of drain tiles that is very extensive to allow the rain water to flow quickly through the turf and into a storm water system.
Therefore an internal tile drainage.
Regulation baseball diamond showing design of tile system.
If your lawn looks like a swamp every time you get a heavy rain you probably have drainage issues.
Infield soil amendments will be addressed in a future issue.
The drain pipes are installed in the sub grade layer and cross the entire field about every 20 feet.
Drain and gravel layer this layer is composed of two components.
The underlying soil has very low infiltration and percolation rates in comparison to the sand.
Drainage systems beneath skinned infields is an un needed expense because water will never reach them.
How to put drain tile in wet yard areas.
A false water table normally will develop at the interface of the sand layer and the underlying soil.
Soilless sand fields for all sports.
If a field stays wet long after a rain games will be cancel and that can mean lost revenue.
One is drain pipe.
To develop a solid reputation for the field and therefore continuing to attract teams the drainage system is critical to ensure player safety.