The new $3.7 million baseball clubhouse construction in the spring of 2023 at Whitman College in Walla Walla will include locker rooms, training rooms and spaces for recruiting and team meetings.

WALLA WALLA — Whitman College has begun construction on a $3.7 million baseball clubhouse at Borleske Stadium that is expected to open in February 2024.

The clubhouse will be behind the third base grandstand at the stadium, which is between U.S. 12 and the Veterans Memorial Pool of Walla Walla.

A recent news release said the 3,300-square-foot clubhouse will include locker and training rooms along with spaces for recruiting and a multipurpose team meeting area.

Gifts from alumni and parents are funding the project. Donors include John Staton and Terry Gillespie, Grover and Sue Shade, Dan and Lisa Adams and Keenan and Deborah Conder.

“We are grateful for the generosity of alumni and families in helping us realize a baseball clubhouse facility at historic Borleske Stadium,” said Director of Athletics Kim Chandler. “This new facility provides a huge upgrade for our student-athlete experience.”

Fences were recently put up at the construction site and the initial utility line work is underway.

The clubhouse is expected to open in February in time for baseball season. It also will be used by Walla Walla Sweets Baseball during their summer collegiate seasons.

After Brian Kitamura’s appointment as head coach of the Whitman Blues in 2015, the baseball program has climbed the Northwest Conference standings, winning the league championship in 2019 and also earning the first National Collegiate Athletics Association Division III tournament berth in program history. The Blues have competed in three of the last four NWC Championship tournaments.

“We could not be more thankful for the support of our program with this project,” Kitamura said. “This clubhouse elevates our student-athlete experience to a whole new level and will be a place that players will be able to call home for generations to come.”