Jake Owen baseball field almost complete

June 24, 2017

Date: June 20, 2017

Author: Colleen Wixon

VERO BEACH — Like most little boys, Jake Owen once dreamed of playing baseball.

Now a new field near where country music star once played Little League soon will bear his name.

Growing up in Vero Beach, Owen played baseball at the city-owned Michael Field on 12th Avenue. The Indian River Sports Complex Inc. leases that property from the city to run its Cal Ripken youth baseball league. 

More ball fields were needed to accommodate games and practices, so the group was looking for additional help to build fields and improve the facility, said Chris Thomas, a board member of the Indian River Sports Complex.

Enter the Kevin Harvick and Cal Ripken Sr. foundations.

NASCAR driver Harvick wanted to do something nice for his friend, Owen, who often helped with Harvick's organization, said Owen's father, Steve Owen.

The result was the donation of a $910,000 baseball field with a synthetic turf and fencing at the complex, with the field to be named after Owen.

"It was like Christmas," Thomas said about the donation.

The field is scheduled to be completed by the end of the month. Jake Owen plans to attend a June 29 grand opening at the field, said his father.

"He's just very humbled and extremely excited," Steve Owen said about his son's reaction to having the field named after him.

Because the city still owns the field, the name of the complex remains Michael Field, said Recreation Director Rob Slezak. The three fields on the property collectively will be called the Michael Field Baseball Complex, Slezak said.

The Indian River Sports Complex is seeking sponsors for another field that would replicate Boston's Fenway Park, complete with grandstands and dugouts. The group also wants to continue improvements to the complex's fencing, restrooms and dugouts, Thomas said.

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