The field at Salina’s downtown baseball facility has a name. The Yard extended the naming rights of The Field to JRI Hospitality, which owns and operates several restaurant brands with more than 80 locations throughout 15 states.
Officials say The Field at The Yard, located at 138 S. 4th St., will now be known as the JRI Hospitality Field at The Yard. JRI Hospitality made a $50,000 donation benefitting the facility that serves softball and baseball players and coaches in the Salina area and will hold naming rights for a 10-year period.
“We are honored to contribute this donation to help maintain and improve JRI Hospitality Field at The Yard for the benefit of the entire community,” says Jason Ingermanson, founder and CEO of JRI Hospitality. “We look forward to a great partnership for the next decade and beyond.”
Funds from the donation will be used to maintain the 14,000-square feet of outdoor turf and 7,500 square feet of indoor turf at the facility including adding appropriate amounts of infill to keep the grass fibers intact and standing upright. The donation will fund other improvements including:
- Additional support for the fence around the infield to keep patrons safe while watching games and attending practices
- Additional storage areas to house equipment and keep machines, balls and other equipment out of the elements, thus prolonging the life of each
- Adding a “Batter’s Eye” behind center field using wind screen, which can assist batters’ visibility of the ball out of the pitcher’s hand to increase the hitter’s success rate
- Adding necessary equipment and additional training space outdoors
“We are grateful and humbled by the newly established partnership with JRI Hospitality and The Yard,” says Brian Guyett,operations manager and head coach of The Yard. “With their generous donation, we are able to serve the community of Salina by maintaining our baseball and softball facility, help coaches get the proper skills needed to mold their young players, keep equipment up to date and running efficiently and most importantly provide a safe place for kids to practice and opportunities to grow on and off the ball field.”
With this donation, The Yard can also continue to make the facility a safe place to be for kids by maintaining gates and locks.
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Courtesy photo
