22 SportsTurf | April 2014 www.sportsturfonline.com
I
n September 2013, Landon Kincaid had a dream
when he set out to complete the senior high school
project that is required for graduation in North Car-
olina; he wanted it to be unique. Landon found his
first love in life, baseball, at a very young age. His
dedication to the game is superior to a normal high school
player and his work ethic is unstoppable. He is also a team
player and he wanted to do something that would not
only help keep his love of the game alive, but would also
help his teammates and others for years to come at Free-
dom High School, Morganton, NC.
Rebuilding a baseball infield is not an easy task. It takes
funding, time, and expertise to get it done the right way.
But even facing these challenging obstacles, Landon was
determined to make it happen. A plan was developed to
raise funds and to bring his project to a reality, and
through community support, professional mentoring, and
a lot of determination, he reached his goal.
At the beginning of the project, the field was over-
grown with no defined shape. The windscreen to cover the
chain link fencing was in shreds, dugouts had been in dis-
array since a massive flood in 2010 when the entire field
had been under 6 feet of water for days. Once the water
had subsided, the field was totally covered with fine silt
from the river which runs directly behind the outfield. To
top that off, all of the equipment had been stolen 2 years
after the flood and the team had very limited funding to
Student's senior project is a
"DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH"
Facility
& Operations | By Steve Peeler, CSFM
The Freedom
High School base-
ball team with a
bat Steve Peeler,
CSFM, won at an
STMA SAFE Foun-
dation auction.
Landon got the
ball that night to
pitch on his newly
renovated mound
and he performed
well, pitching five
solid innings and
getting the win.
Landon Kincaid
