Athletes and fans anticipating home games at the new Itchy Jones Stadium will have to wait another two weeks.

The Saluki baseball team will host Northern Illinois University this weekend, but at Rent One Park in Marion. The series was scheduled to be at Itchy Jones Stadium, which has been under construction since July, but cold weather and precipitation have prevented construction crews from finishing on time.

Friday and Saturday are scheduled to start at 2 p.m. and Sunday is scheduled for 1 p.m., with free admission on Sunday.

Marion’s forecast has freezing temperatures during the weekend. Coach Ken Henderson said the team is still considering moving the series to Memphis or Nashville, since it won’t be ideal baseball weather.

Mark Anderson, the superintendent of Fager McGee Commercial Construction, said the field is ready to play on and the dugouts are complete, but if the team played Friday it would not be accessible for handicapped spectators.

“If (SIU) wanted to make it happen, they probably could,” Anderson said. “It just won’t be picture perfect.”

Andy Pettit, Associate Athletic Director, has been overseeing the project. He said the team could play a game any time because they have all the necessities, but it will not be ready for the fans because it will take construction crews two days to clean up all equipment.

Henderson said it is the right call to move the series out of Carbondale because the stadium won’t be completely safe for spectators.

“We don’t want to play in it until it’s ready,” he said.

This is the first year SIU is charging admission for tickets. Season tickets were up to $75. The tickets will be valid at Rent One Park.

Anderson said he expects to have all the spectator seating finished by Friday, but because of freezing temperatures from Wednesday to Friday, it will be a tough task.

Pettit said average temperatures during construction were four degrees below the average during winter, which prevented construction crews from completing the job on time. He said they could not pour concrete or lay blocks when the ground is frozen because it will rise, fall or crack when the ground thaws.

“When the ground is so frozen, 12 to 14 inches deep, you have to wait days and days of good sunshine just for it to thaw out to pour the concrete,” Pettit said.

Pettit said the snow and ice stayed long enough for contractors to build tents, which heated the area. He said the crew was not going to rush perfection.

“Everything that’s done there is done right,” Pettit said. “There are no shortcuts down there, the cold weather is the only culprit there is in this thing. Everybody is working their butts off.”

Nobody on the team is stressing about the games being moved.

“We’re excited to get on it and play games on it,” Henderson said. “Our kids have handled it well and we’re going to play a lot of games on it over the years, so it doesn’t hurt to wait a couple more weeks.”

Anderson said in hindsight, construction should have started in May, but the winter was too unpredictable that far in advance.

Pettit said the stadium will be ready for the next home series against the University of Illinois March 14-16. The dedication ceremony is March 13 at 3 p.m.

“We’ll be ready for the Illinois series,” Pettit said.

Director of Athletics Mario Moccia said he wanted to open the stadium for the NIU series, but he was out voted because of the baseball connections between SIU and Illinois.

Pettit said it was better to have the opening before the Illinois series since Itchy Jones coached at both schools, and U of I’s coach, Dan Hartleb, played for SIU. He said he would have liked NIU to play here to work out any issues for the ceremony.

“Mario (Moccia) is never a fan of having a series in the stadium and then dedicating two weeks later,” Pettit said. “It just made sense, with (Jones) coaching at Illinois.”

The Illinois series will begin a seven game home stretch which features Eastern Illinois University and Purdue University.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @ Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269