Ground Broken On New Baseball Field At Atlantic Cape

MAYS LANDING, NJ — A new baseball field of dreams is in store for Atlantic Cape Community College, bringing the Buccaneers home in time for the 2025 season after spending the past decade at Surf Stadium in Atlantic City.

The $1.48 million field officially broke ground on Feb. 15, after several years of planning, fundraising, architectural design, environmental approvals, community and alumni outreach, the school announced in a news release.

Once completed, the new baseball field will feature a state-of-the-art digital scoreboard in center field, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant bleachers along both baselines for spectator seating, two enclosed dugouts and two 80’x30’ bullpens. The field dimensions will measure 330 feet down the left and right field lines and 400 feet to straight away center field. Lights and a clubhouse, which were featured in the original architectural renderings, will be added at a later date.

To drum up support for this ambitious project, the Atlantic Cape Foundation created the “Bring it Home” fundraising campaign in 2020 and thanks to the generosity of its donors raised $186,000.

With dozens in attendance, from county commissioners, members of the college’s Board of Trustees, staff, faculty and alumni to players and coaches from the current baseball team, many were recognized for ensuring that this momentous project came to fruition.

“We received tremendous support from many donors and sponsors, including Steven Nehmad, Dixon Engineering, SOSH Architects, Spiezle Architects and Laura Bishop Communications, that helped to get our campaign going,” said Jean McAlister, chief of staff, Atlantic Cape, and executive director, Foundation. “Without these folks behind the scenes we would not be here today.”

Currently, Atlantic Cape is the only community college in New Jersey to not have a baseball field on its campus, leaving the school at a disadvantage as local student athletes decided to commit to other colleges and universities to continue their studies and baseball careers. But the college says it is confident that constructing a state-of-the-art National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) regulation baseball field will entice student athletes from across Atlantic and Cape May counties to consider Atlantic Cape first when deciding upon which undergraduate institution of higher education they want to commit to.

Atlantic County District Two Commissioner and Atlantic Cape alum Maureen Kern, whose late father Lawrence “Bud” Kern was instrumental in the success of the City of Somers Point’s Little League Baseball (as its president) and recreation programs, congratulated Atlantic Cape President Barbara Gaba and Atlantic Cape on this occasion.

“On behalf of Atlantic County and the Board of Commissioners, I want to congratulate President Gaba and her team for turning the dreams of many into reality by providing them with the opportunity to play baseball at the college level in our great county,” Kern said. “As an alum of this college, it is especially heartwarming that the youth in our area will have the opportunity to pursue their love of baseball on this soon-to-be beautiful home field and earn a degree closer to home.”

“This is the culmination of a lot of hard work. I thought at first this was going to be a herculean task and overwhelming, but if there is any place that has a special spot in my heart, it’s Atlantic Cape Community College. If not for the existence of this organization I never would have gone on to a secondary education and I would never have met the woman who has been my wife for 51 years,” said Steven Nehmad, alum and former Buccaneer player from the class of 1968. “When we started it looked like this task that was insurmountable, but slowly we chipped away at it to get us over the top. Now, we are finally there and we have come to the realization that this is a reality.”

Nehmad summed up the positive impact that Atlantic Cape and other institutions of higher education have on its students.

“If you can change the life of one person, you have changed the world and that is what Atlantic Cape does, it changes lives one person at a time,” Nehmad said.

Photo: Atlantic Cape President Dr. Barbara Gaba is joined by Atlantic County Commissioners Maureen Kern, Andrew L. Parker III, John Risley and June Byrnes; Atlantic Cape Board of Trustee members Daniel Money and Rev. Dr. Thomas Dawson; Coaches Craig Muckle and Joseph Schipsi; Alumni Steven Nehmad and Terry Budd; and current members of the Atlantic Cape Baseball team.