Bigger doesn't always mean better.  But when you successfully combine bigger and better, you've achieved the ultimate.  That's the goal of a group of Omaha area businessmen, headed by Brad Perreault, Terry Mallott and Mike Williams, who are getting ready to open the doors of the new 55,000 square foot Ultimate Baseball Academy facility at 120th & "I" Streets in Omaha early next month.

 

Construction of the main level of the mega-facility will be completed around January 7th, according to UBA Facilities Manager Scott Bidroski, which will allow the facility to obtain a temporary certificate of occupancy needed to open portions of the facility to public use. One of the final steps in completing the lower level will be the installation of a unique field turf product scheduled for January 2nd through 5th.  The lower level features a 150' x 150' turf infield area without any structural columns that will allow teams to conduct a full infield practice session indoors or that can be divided into as many as twelve 25' x 75' tunnels.  The infield area will have a net ceiling at a height of thirty-five feet and will have bleacher seating down the first and third base lines.   Two sanctioned USSSA youth tournaments will be played indoors on the turf over the weekends of March 6th and 20th.

UBA General Manager Tom Kupfer (blue jacket) and Facilities Manager Scott Bidroski survey construction progress at the new UBA site at 120th & I in late October.

First floor amenities will also include four hitting cages with Iron Mike pitching machines, three pitching tunnels in an area called Bill Olson's Bullpen, in honor of  the veteran coach who serves as the UBA Dean of Instruction, a front desk area, a concessions area, staff offices and a space subleased to one of UBA's two tenants, Nebraska Orthopedic Hospital, which will be staffed by a physical therapist. 

 

The L-shaped upper level balcony, which overlooks the infield area, is anticipated to open by the third or fourth week of January.  Facilities located on the upper level will include four tunnels equipped with ProBatter video simulation pitching machines (two baseball, two softball), the Ultimate Fitness Institute -- a fitness center operated by UBA's other tenant, Cain Fitness, Inc. -- and a Members' Area that will consist of six multi-use tunnels, each approximately 18' x 50'.   Some upper level tunnels will be equipped with multi-camera video recording equipment for analysis of hitting, pitching and fielding mechanics.  Motion analysis will be included as a component of private lessons and may also be obtained on a fee basis outside of a lesson.   

 

Bidroski (left) and Kupfer  with investor Brad Perreault at the future location of home plate in the facility's 150' x 150' infield area in October.

Area teams are already lining up to start using the infield area for practices as soon as the doors are opened.  The first major public event scheduled for the infield area will be guest appearances on January 13 by four-time All-American pitcher Monica Abbot and two-time All-American Sarah Fekete, both formerly with the University of Tennessee and Team USA Softball.  The date of UBA's grand opening is yet to be determined, pending a more precise estimate of the completion of both levels.  

 

One scheduled user eager to get onto the infield area is Creighton University head baseball coach, Ed Servais, and his Bluejays.  The Creighton squad is planning to use the indoor infield for preseason practices beginning February 1 and during the early part of the season when outdoor conditions are not conducive to practice on their home field.  "We plan to be out at UBA six days a week before the season begins unless we get a break in the weather that allows us to get outside on our own field," commented Coach Servais.  "In the past we've lagged behind a bit defensively at the beginning of the season because we haven't been able to practice our entire infield together.  The new UBA facility is really going to help us get in some needed work on ground balls, defensive situations,  bunt coverages, first and third and just a lot things that we haven't been able to do in the past at this time of the year.  We have a nice facility on campus for offensive work but having this infield will really be great for our defense.  Plus, UBA will have dirt pitching mounds for our pitchers to throw off of.  There's a big difference for pitchers throwing off dirt compared to the artificial mounds we have at our facility.  Being able to wear spikes and throw off dirt before our first games will really help for our guys."  The Bluejays open the season on February 20 with a four game series at Huntsville, Texas against Sam Houston State -- part of a fourteen game southern road trip before the home opener scheduled for March 13.

 

	Looking down on the infield area from the upper level behind home plate in mid-December.  To the left is the front face of the upper level balcony behind the third base line.  The balcony will be outfitted with bleachers to view action in the infield.

 

Servais's comments drive home the point that led Perrault and the other investors to "dream big."  "We just really felt that Omaha needed something this size," commented UBA General Manager Tom Kupfer, head baseball coach of the Omaha Roncalli Catholic Crimson Pride and back-to-back Class B American Legion state champion Weatherguard Systems Pride.  "Having the type of space that we have here will allow area colleges, high schools and youth teams overcome the disadvantages of playing in a northern climate and get out of the gate much faster at the beginning of the season.  Southern schools have a huge advantage by being able to get outdoors so much earlier.  This facility will help narrow that gap."

 

The upper level balcony along first base line will be outfitted with state of the art ProBatter pitching machines that use a projected video image to simulate the pitcher's delivery.

Perreault and Mallot, owners of various specialty construction companies and operators of assisted living centers, have actively supported local baseball for many years, including sponsoring Legion and collegiate level summer teams through one of their companies, BDB Walls.  Perrault's son, Josh, is a former Creighton Prep pitcher, who was a redshirt freshman for Creighton University last season.  Williams is a commercial insurance broker with widespread baseball connections who has a son playing high school ball at Westside. 

 

The UBA staff includes Kupfer, Olson, Bidroski, former Red Sox player Dwayne Hosey, former Husker Jeff Leise, pitching coaches Chris Shanahan and Marc Lewis, softball instructors Erin Drinnan Platt and Steve Kerkman, and former Creighton catchers Chris Gradoville and Scott Servais.   Atlanta Braves pitcher Buddy Carlyle, a Bellevue East graduate, is also affiliated with UBA and is available for lessons and clinics during the off-season.

 

Many of the UBA staff members were formerly associated with The Strike Zone, an indoor training facility that has dominated the Metro baseball training market for the past decade.  UBA began operations in early 2008 at temporary facilities located at Gateway I-80 Business Park off Harrison Street.  Since those facilities have been somewhat limited in size, the opening of a spacious new facility with state-of-the-art amenities will allow UBA to aggressively pursue a larger share of the area's baseball instruction and training market.   That marketing effort is likely to be felt not only by the Strike Zone, but also by two other 2008 start-ups, Frozen Ropes, located in a 20,000 square foot facility off I-80 at the 144th Street exit and Fast Forward which operates a 13,800 square foot facility at 134th & I Circle, as well as by the Hitter's Edge facility at 11235 John Galt Blvd  which underwent a management change in 2007.  Whether the area's baseball training market is growing fast enough to support all four facilities remains to be seen.

 

	Workers close in the wall opening that has been used to move equipment and materials in and out of the facility during construction.