This head groundskeeper knows what it takes to keep a Double-A baseball field in top shape

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Brandon Schanz finally had a day off one Sunday afternoon in July.

After months of taking care of the baseball field at UPMC Park, he had a chance to stay home and spend time with his family.

Then the rain clouds rolled in.

Without hesitation, Schanz drove to UPMC Park to be a part of the conversation whether the Erie SeaWolves could play their final game before the all-star break. He knew the players and staffs wanted a quick game with flights scheduled and arranged rides back to hometowns, so he pushed his staff to get the field ready as quickly as possible after the storm moved out.

“Brandon is great. He’s a tremendous partner and communicates well,” said SeaWolves president Greg Coleman. “He takes ownership of the field and takes a lot of pride in the field.”

Schanz, 47, is the head groundskeeper for Erie Events and has 25 years experience in maintaining the baseball field at UPMC Park.

While decisions to cancel, postpone or play games because of weather is normally a conversation between the team president and the umpires, Schanz has earned the respect to be in the conversation as well.

“We are fortunate to have the continuity we’ve had with Brandon being here every year,” Coleman said. “He is very knowledgeable about maintaining the field and how long it’ll take to get ready when we get weather.”

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Schanz has been on the grounds crew since 1999 after four years working in the front office at Jerry Uht Park. He took over as the head groundskeeper in 2004 and has learned to adapt with the times every year.

“Things have changed dramatically since I took over in 2004,” Schanz said. “We used to get away with part-timers coming in around 5 p.m. to tear down batting practice and get the field ready. Now teams like to work defensive drills and PFPs (Pitcher Fielding Practice) early on or hit early and we have to set up and break down things throughout the afternoon.”

Average day

Schanz starts the day around 9 a.m. for night home games. It’ll start with nearly two hours of mowing the field or even four hours if he wants to put in a new pattern.

“While I’m cutting we’ll have guys working on the dugouts, we’ll rake and water the mounds (on the field and bullpens) and drag and water the infield,” Schanz said. “Once each team gets through batting practice we get about 45 minutes to chalk the field and get final preparations done.”

After the game, Schanz’s crew is back on the field covering up the mounds, cleaning up the chalk and using backpack blowers to blow any materials off the field that were left behind.

“The pitch clock has helped us the past few years. We’ve been able to end the day around 10 p.m., but before the clock was put in we’d be here until after midnight.”

The long days could get repetitive with the grounds crew basically starting over every day, but that’s an advantage to Schanz.

“It’s very repetitive, but I think it’s a good thing,” Schanz said. “It helps with the new guys because after the first week they should know what we do everyday. Sometimes we have a disaster like a blown irrigation line or something to throw us off but I like knowing what needs to get done everyday.”

Schanz also spends everyday communicating with SeaWolves manager Gabe Alvarez in case the timeline needs to shift. There are days the Detroit Tigers send in rovers or coaches to get extra work in with certain players and the field needs to be ready.

“Brandon is on top of things and we’re very fortunate to have such a knowledgeable groundskeeper,” Alvarez said. “He’s great about anticipating things and has a baseball feel which makes a huge difference. There are groundskeepers on the road that don’t understand the daily life of a baseball player, but Brandon does.”

Schanz also plays the role of meteorologist during games with threatening weather. Once a game starts, it’s up to the umpiring crew whether the tarp comes on the field or if the game is canceled. During those games, Schanz throws on his rain gear and sits near the dugouts so he can bring his phone over to the crew chief of the umpiring crew between innings to show him the radar and if rain or hazardous weather is coming.

No breaks during road trips

When the SeaWolves hit the road for a series or two, Schanz and his crew get the heavy work done on the field.

“Usually we work six-hour shifts each day, but that’s when we do the more intense work,” Schanz said. “We’ll aerate the grass, top dress, edge and do the things we can’t do when the team is in town. It’s not as routine, but it’s when we get the heavy lifting done. Sometimes that gets shifted over weather or extra events, but it always works out.”

UPMC Park has hosted concerts, dinners and movie nights among other events when the SeaWolves are out of town. Schanz adjusts his schedule around those events to make sure he prepares the field for the events and helps it recover after the events are over.

Learning on the job

Major League Baseball has developed new standards for playing surfaces every few years over the past decade and Schanz makes sure UPMC Park keeps up with those standards.

“We’ve made some big strides with renovations. The old field used to have a compaction layer of five inches and we had a lot of problems with drainage,” Schanz said. “The last major renovation we dug 10 inches down and brought in all new land. It was wild what we found in those inches from the first time we ever re-sodded the field. We found a random brick or rock or chunks of wood. The field now has great drainage and works well.”

In addition to new and changing standards from MLB, Schanz has also fought the way against Poa annua, which is a weed that can disrupt growth of grass and make things bumpy and unpredictable.

“We still have some of that nuisance grass in certain spots, but we’ve put down growth regulators so it doesn’t expand,” Schanz said. “Some teams in the league have it all over their fields and it’s hard to get rid of it without turning the grass white.”

Schanz has also used tricks he’s learned at turf conferences with other groundskeepers from all levels of baseball and other sports.

“I’ve learned so much from those guys and picking their brains on how they handle certain things,” Schanz said. “You can go to school to learn how to grow grass, but they don’t teach you how to run a baseball field. It’s a very hands on learning type of job and those seminars are great. There’s always a new way of doing something.”

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A staple of SeaWolves baseball

Schanz has an office in the grounds crew building just behind the field. It’s full of memorabilia and memories from nearly 30 years of SeaWolves baseball. From dealing with players and managers to cooperating with the front office, Schanz has become synonymous with SeaWolves baseball.

“I didn’t play baseball, but I always loved watching baseball,” Schanz said. “I went to Gannon for a year to become a physical therapist, but the timing was perfect for me to work here with the ballpark opening up and I had just graduated from high school. I got very lucky and I can’t complain about working outside everyday.”

Contact Tom Reisenweber at treisenweber@timesnews.com . Follow him on X @ETNreisenweber .

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: This head groundskeeper knows what it takes to keep a Double-A baseball field in top shape