The Earlham College varsity baseball and softball programs will begin the 2024-25 academic year with a new indoor practice and training facility that rivals what many of the nation’s top intercollegiate programs have.

Construction of the Bud McCollum-Earlham College Baseball Hitting and Pitching Lab finished this summer. The facility measures 80 by 104 feet and has six lanes that can be customized for pitching, batting, fielding and footwork drills.

“Many NCAA Division I schools can’t say they have an indoor training facility of this caliber,” said Steve Sakosits, Earlham’s head baseball coach and senior associate athletic director. “Not only will it provide a year-round facility to support the development of our players, but it will help us recruit a better student-athlete at the Division III level.”

The new training facility is the result of a major gift from Randy ’73 and Melissa Sadler, and additional support from Charlie and Esther Krieger and proceeds from a fundraising campaign led by the baseball program. The facility is named after Bud McCollum, Randy Sadler’s former teammate and a graduate from Earlham’s Class of 1972.

“Melissa and I believe in the power of sports to transform lives and communities,” Randy Sadler said. “The Bud McCollum-Earlham College Baseball and Hitting Lab is our way of investing in the future of Earlham student-athletes, providing them with the resources and opportunities to excel both on and off the field.”

For more than a decade, the Sadlers have partnered with the College to raise the profile of Earlham Athletics in multiple sports. That includes the construction of new baseball and softball stadiums, the renovation of varsity tennis courts and establishing endowments to fund the long-term needs of those facilities. The couple also made a gift to ensure the sustainability of the men’s and women’s golf programs.

An official dedication ceremony for the new batting and pitching facility is being organized for spring 2025.

“We are so grateful for the Sadlers and their commitment to our student-athletes,” Sakosits said. “We want Earlham Athletics to be seen in the same light as our nationally recognized academic programs. We want great athletics and academics to be hallmarks of the Earlham experience.”