Oakland City, IN - On Thursday, November 3, Oakland City University had their groundbreaking ceremony for the new baseball stadium. The Mathew and Lindsey Konkler Baseball Stadium construction will be started shortly.
After a record breaking season, in which the Mighty Oaks baseball team got 31 wins and made the River States Conference tournament for the first time, a new stadium will be built. The 31 wins broke the record of wins in a single season and since joining the River States Conference in 2021, last year was the first time the team coached by Andy Lasher made it to the tournament.
The new stadium will be named after Mathew and Lindsey Konkler. Mathew is an Oakland City baseball alumni (class of 1995) who played with, and was coached by current Athletic Director T-Ray Fletcher.
During the ceremony, Konkler said "I always knew I wanted to give back to the place that gave me a big opportunity, it's an honor to be able to donate to this great program. I don't want people to be thanking me, I want everyone to be thankful for God."
Konkler also shared some stories from his time at Oakland City University and how he grew from having barely anything to the person he is today. "I am happy to be able to be able to serve, the community, the university and God by helping the funding for this awesome baseball facility," Konkler said during his speech.
Besides the Konkler family, other donors include Bill Bussing and Phil Rheinbrecht. Bussing is the owner of the Evansville Otters. Rheinbrecht, another Oakland City University alumni is currently the president of Rheinbrecht Homes and Construction.
Athletic Director T-Ray Fletcher talked about the new stadium being the best facility in the River States Conference. "Our baseball program deserves a facility like this, it's going to be one of the best in the Midwest. Having a facility like this will be big for the community, the players and recruiting," said Fletcher.
The dugouts, backstop and the building behind home plate have been torn down while the crew of Jerry Aigner Construction, Inc. is getting ready to start building the stadium.
