Proposed partnership between MUW and City of Columbus could give baseball team a permanent home

A proposed partnership could bring more collegiate baseball to Columbus and give the MUW Owls Baseball Team a permanent home.

Since introducing men’s baseball on the MUW campus, the Owls have had to play their home games at either Columbus High School, Heritage Academy, or most recently, Columbus Christian.

That has cut down on the opportunity to bring non-conference opponents in for home stands, since those fields aren’t up to NCAA regulations, and MUW’s campus doesn’t have the available property for an NCAA regulation Baseball field.

That has put the Owls at a homefield disadvantage.

The school’s athletic director, Buddy Miller, has begun talks with the City of Columbus about repurposing an unused fourplex of fields on the backside of Propst Park to create a regulation field for the team.

Miller says it would benefit his players and the city, since it would mean the Owls could host host tournaments and non-conference home games, bringing in visiting teams, their fans, and their money.

It would also benefit younger players in the city, because the team could host camps and clinics.

Columbus Mayor Stephen Jones sees the upsides.

“And, it’ll also secure them to be able to play more teams here in Columbus, you know, right now on the fields they’ve been playing on, it’s harder to get some of the colleges to come down, because they’re not NCAA regualted fields, so this would give them a permanent home, give us something to be proud of, give our citizens something to be proud of, something to be able to come, and they’ll also be proud of it as well.”

The W would also use some of its resources to help maintain the fields if the agreement proceeds.