The site of Porters Chapel Academy’s greatest athletic successes has gotten a new look.

As part of an ongoing campaign to improve the school’s facilities, PCA’s baseball field underwent major renovations this winter. The $30,000 project includes a new press box, netting, a concrete backstop, windscreen, and an elevated viewing area behind home plate.

PCA won three MAIS Class A baseball championships from 2003-09. Wade Patrick, the baseball coach and athletic director, is hoping the upgraded facilities will help attract more students to the school and help it win a few more.

“You want something for the school that kids will be enthused about,” Patrick said. “You want them to take pride in playing on something like that, and that people are willing to put in the work on. You should feel proud that somebody did that for you, and to say ‘This is our home.’”

PCA opens the 2016 baseball season at home Monday night at 7 p.m. against Canton Academy, but there will be a formal rededication ceremony Saturday. The renovated Pierce Field will play host to a mother-daughter softball game and a father-son baseball game beginning at 10 a.m. There is a $2 admission charge.

“It’s mainly a come out and have a good time kind of day,” Patrick said.

The baseball renovations are the latest in a series of upgrades to PCA’s athletic facilities. It installed new bleachers for its football field in 2013, a new basketball court in 2014, and new basketball bleachers last fall.

The baseball project replaced a chain link fence that previously served as the backstop with a short cinderblock wall, a windscreen and protective netting.

The new wall and windscreen rise about 8 feet off the ground, so a wooden viewing area was built that wraps around home plate between the two dugouts.

A hill that abuts the field also has its base at the backstop. The viewing stand covers up a steep dropoff and sits roughly even with a part of the hill that fans often sit on.

A new press box was also built to replace one that was several decades old and in need of serious repair. The staircase leading up to the old box had separated from the main structure, and the door had also rotted.

“The old pressbox was past due. I was scared to walk up it,” Patrick said. “It was a liability issue, for sure.”

A new shed to store tools and field materials was also purchased. Much of the work on the project was done on a volunteer basis by parents and students.

“It was a lot of volunteer hours put in,” Patrick said.

The facelift for Pierce Field is a major overhaul, but is not complete. Patrick said future plans include grandstand seating on the first base side — currently, fans bring their own chairs or sit on the hillside — and new dugouts. The netting behind home plate will also be extended further down the base lines.

There’s no timetable for those projects, though. They’ll be tackled as money becomes available and other improvements around the school are made.

“We’ll get together with the school board and (headmaster Pam) Wilbanks. Whether it’s athletically or with the school, there’s always things that arise,” Patrick said. “Anything to improve and draw students in, that’s what we want to do.”

For now, Patrick is proud of his new ballpark. It’s the first thing visible on the entry road to the school and he hopes it makes a good impression about what’s at the end of that path.

“That’s your first impression, so you want to make it lasting,” Patrick said. “We’re very pleased with how it turned out.”