For years, the Free Expression Tunnel has been one of the most hallowed places on NC State’s campus along with the Bell Tower and Reynolds Coliseum. Now, the NC State baseball team has taken the Free Expression Tunnel as source of inspiration for a new tradition.
The baseball team unveiled the first of its new “Free Expression Dugouts” Wednesday. According to John Lambert, director of player and program development for the team, the goal is to better incorporate the dugouts and the baseball field into NC State history.
The dugouts will be available for public viewing on April 6, when the Wolfpack takes on the UNC Charlotte 49ers following its eight-game road trip.
“This is the first year that we have this being done with the baseball team,” Lambert said. “When I first got here, I had no idea what the Free Expression Tunnel was. I really liked what NC State has done in preserving that space, so I felt that we should try that here.”
Lambert communicated the idea to head coach Elliott Avent, who was very interested in the plan and the potential impact that it could have on students within the community.
“John came to me and said ‘Coach, what are we known for?’” Avent said. “I started with the Free Expression Tunnel, and he said, ‘let’s make the top of the dugouts the Free Expression Tunnel.’”
The third base dugout was completed Wednesday while the first base dugout will be completed Thursday. The change is a big step from what the dugouts looked like in the 2014-15 season, according to Lambert.
“Last year, we didn’t try anything like this,” Lambert said. “What we did last year was put ‘NC State Baseball’ in bold letters on a black canvas and tried to be very minimalist. We are definitely going for a different direction this year.”
For the first year, the baseball team brought in an outside artist to do the work for both dugouts. However, after 2016, the team hopes that more students will want to engage with and be a part of the project.
“For this first year, we wanted to bring in an outside artist,” Lambert said. “Ideally after this season, we would like to make it a chance for artists at NC State in the design program or elsewhere to leave their stamp on the dugouts and have something impressive to put on his or her resume.”
The plan is to have one student design a print for the first base dugout and another student design a print for the third base dugout. For this first year, the team felt the need to bring in an established artist to get the ball rolling, according to Lambert.
Sean Kernick, a local artist and the director of Oak City Hustle, is the man who was pegged for the inaugural Free Expression Dugouts. Kernick was not at the ballpark and was unavailable due to traveling conflicts.
For Coach Avent, the implementation of the dugouts is one that will get much more student involvement with the team.
“I think it’s a great for getting students involved with team,” Avent said. “When I think of NC State landmarks, I generally think of the Free Expression Tunnel before the Bell Tower. It’s going to be great for getting people in the student community involved.”
While the rest of the team will get its first chance to view the dugouts after the team’s trip to Florida State, senior catcher Chance Shepard and sophomore closer Tommy DeJuneas got a look of the dugout on the third base line.
“It’s gonna change the way that people see us,” Shepard said. “I like it a lot and I really like the design, it’s something new and different that no one else is really doing right now.”
Avent said he is really looking forward to showing the rest of the team the artwork that features more than 150 names of current and former players.
“I want them to have pride not only in the program that they play in, but to have pride in this university and I definitely think that they do,” Avent said.
