Dear Wildcat Baseball Alumni and Friends:

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I want to personally thank you for your continued support of Kansas State Baseball. The past eight years as Head Coach of your Cats, I have seen continual improvement of our facilities, attendance at home games, support from our alumni and friends, and success on the baseball field and in the classroom. Many of our facility projects and upgrades directly relate to your involvement in the DiamondCats Club.

As we made our final payment on the SportTec Video System in October, we are pushing ahead with another major project for our program. We are excited to announce our Sound System Project for Tointon Family Stadium.

Our Athletic Department's theme since John Currie came on board 2½ years ago has been to promote the best fan experience in the Big 12. Tointon Family Stadium is arguably the fan friendliest stadium in the Big 12 in terms of seating proximity to field, cleanliness, view of the field, feeling a part of the action during contests, being physically close to players and coaches (not always good), and the beautiful new AstroTurf surface add to the amenities of the ballpark. The one major drawback to the atmosphere is the lack of a quality sound system.

The qualities of our stadium quickly diminish when the sound system is involved with PA announcements, music being played during games and pre game activities, and our practice sessions. Unfortunately, the current sound system is the original with the construction of the stadium. It is old and outdated with its capabilities that can really add to a game atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the speakers sound is distorted and they are in a terrible location where fans in the stands complain at the volume during games, but players and coaches can't hear anything on the playing field. I have witnessed this myself during summer recruiting, as I sit in the stands near the top of the stadium or in chairs outside the suites. It is very unpleasant and I find myself yelling at the guys in the pressbox to turn the volume down.

The athletic department agrees with the present need of a new sound system at our stadium. They have recommended a first class system that was recently installed at McCain Auditorium and includes features that would enhance the atmosphere at our games. The installation on our new poles that support our backstop net is a tremendous idea and will properly displace the sound throughout the stadium and on the field. However, the administration will not fund the full amount of the project, but will pay for half of the proposed cost of the system. I found out that this is not a boombox operation and the approximate cost of the full system is roughly $70-75,000.

I am once again asking the DiamondCats membership to step up in a big way and help us out with this project. You continue to support our program in many different ways and this would be another major addition to our program. My goal would be to install next November, so the system is in place for the 2013 season. Our DiamondCats fund is currently at $19,000, but my goal is for the fund to have a constant balance of $25,000 and we spend only what is in surplus to that amount.

With that being said, the amount we need to fund raise for this project before next November would be between $30-35,000. Our current list of alumni and friends of the program is over 500 members. The past 2 years we have averaged 35 memberships to the DiamondCats Club and the year we promoted the Video System we had over 50 memberships. That's less than 10% of our alumni involved with our program on an annual basis. My goal would be to have a constant membership well over 100.

Every donation matters, even if it is just $50, we are looking to strengthen our number of alumni involved. Please consider joining the DiamondCats Club and if you have been a member in the past, encourage your teammates and friends to become involved once again with the Wildcat Baseball program. This is exciting times for us and we would like for you to be a part of it. EMAW!!

Thank you for your support!
Brad Hill
Head Baseball Coach