LORMAN &045; Alcorn head baseball coach Willie &uot;Rat&uot; McGowan can remember the old-timers talk about their time spent playing at Braves Field.

They played before his time, and you’ve got to realize McGowan &045; the Braves veteran head coach with over 600 career wins &045; considers them old-timers.

The old field that sites behind Jack Spinks Stadium will finally get an overhaul in the coming months as construction is under way to install overhead lights as the first phase of improvements. The field hasn’t seen significant upgrades in its facilities in several years, but plans are for a $1 million overhaul that will include dressing facilities, 1,000-seat grandstand seating, indoor batting cage and other amenities.

&uot;It’s going to help us in so many ways,&uot; said McGowan, who began as an assistant under former Davey L. Whitney, the school’s longtime basketball coach. &uot;I’ve been wanting a field even since I’ve been coaching here. It’s been here ever since 1957 when I first visited Alcorn, Some of the old guys I know used to play on this field and would talk about it. It’s been the same old field &045; we never did anything to this ball field.&uot;

The improvements are welcomed with open arms to McGowan and the Braves, who have the only field in the Southwestern Athletic Conference without lights and may have one of the oldest on-campus facilities in the conference.

Sandwiched between the new football stadium and its predecessor, the old field has no lights, very limited seating with aging aluminum bleachers and no amenities you’d find at larger college fields &045; i.e., concession areas, dressing rooms or offices.

The grand design, however, calls for all of that in the later phases, which include a gated entrance to the field.

State Rep. Phillip West, D-Natchez, assisted with securing funding for the project.

&uot;It’s been a long time coming,&uot; ASU athletic director Robert Raines said. &uot;We’ve been here for 130-some odd years, so I think it’s long overdue. It will allow us to make baseball a revenue-generating sport with seating for spectators.&uot;

Work right now is under way on the lighting system, with B&B Construction of Brandon installing the underground electric system before installing the poles for night baseball to begin. Construction crews have knocked down all the fencing around the stadium, and a new wooden fence will take its place after everything is in.

McGowan said he came up with plans for the facility after seeing what other collegiate programs in Louisiana and Mississippi are currently using.

&uot;When I go off to certain schools, I look at their stadiums &045; Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, LSU, Tulane and Centenary,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;I’ve looked at so many stadiums in my coaching career. What I did was sit down with the vice-president and pointed out certain things I wanted to have. This is what we came up with. Most of it was my idea and design, but they led me in the right direction. And they thought it was very, very pretty.&uot;

The lighting project should be completed by some time in the spring, but the 2004 campaign will definitely be one of transition for the Braves with construction going on. McGowan said some games may get moved to either Vicksburg or Natchez or get scratched all together.

But the season of transition, however, will precede a new era in the program’s history.

&uot;I think it’s going to be good for the program &045; now and the future,&uot; senior shortstop Sly McClain said. &uot;The facilities and a bigger stadium, a press box and dugouts &045; if you play baseball, that’s what you always envision playing in. By having that, it’ll attract hopefully more baseball players to Alcorn.&uot;

That’s the biggest thing McGowan is banking on. When dealing with potential recruits, he can’t sell the facility as much as other programs can sell theirs, leaving him out of the mix with some of the more talented players coming out of high school and junior college.

&uot;I hope it’ll help us recruit first-class ball players,&uot; McGowan said. &uot;We’ve been getting ball players not so much Division I but Division II and III. I’m going to put pressure on myself more once we get the field fixed. We’re going to have to win. It’s a new day. I think the facility is going to be real, real beautiful. I think Alcorn is going to be proud of this when they get through with this.&uot;

Once it’s completed, the field will actually have shorter dimensions as opposed to its previously spacious conditions. Down the lines will be 335 feet, the power alleys will be 375 feet and straight center will be 400. For years the fences were 395 down the left-field line, 375 in right and 425 feet in dead center field.

Hitters also had the trouble of locating pitches without a hitter’s backdrop in center, and doing so became increasingly tough following the construction of Jacks Spinks Stadium.

&uot;He’s excited,&uot; Raines said. &uot;Any time you can get a new facility to play your games and practice &045; especially after the number of years he’s given to Alcorn as baseball coach and assistant football coach &045; he’s excited. It’s going to enhance recruiting, and hopefully it’ll be a shot in the arm for everybody and help our program get over the hump in the coming seasons.&uot;

The construction will help Alcorn keep pace with a world of college baseball that has become increasingly popular in the last 15 years.