Scoreboard watching: The new scoreboard is moved into place in right-center field as part of the renovations at Kindall/Sancet Stadium.

Chris Richards / Arizona Daily Star

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For 2 1/2 years, Andy Lopez recruited players with a scale model sitting in his office.

In 2003, his second year as the UA baseball coach, Lopez had a miniature version of his vision for Kindall/Sancet Stadium built. He showed it to recruits.

Meanwhile, few changes — "Just a new wooden fence," Lopez said — were made to the Wildcats' 39-year-old stadium.

That changed this off-season, when construction began on $510,000 worth of changes, according to documents obtained from the UA athletic department through Arizona's public records law.

Remodeling projects included a new scoreboard, a playing field, seating berms, pitching mounds and a halo around home plate.

The UA also will install a billboard in right field to display the team's accomplishments and a series of plaques in left field to honor individual accomplishments. Both were donated by Clear Channel Outdoor.

The university is in the planning stages of this summer's Phase 2, which could include remodeling the entryway, press box, restrooms and concession stands, and adding shading above the bleachers.

"You don't want to keep recruiting those guys off something that's hanging in the office," Lopez said. "It's a heck of a lot nicer to walk them out to the field. When it's all said and done, the facility will be as nice as any on the West Coast."

The construction — and commitment to baseball — came last summer after the Wildcats dropped their NCAA baseball regional hosting bid. The UA, which drew about 1,100 per game at the 6,500-seat park, was the only top-10 team not to host a regional.

"What we got into in terms of last year had less to do with the facility," said athletic director Jim Livengood, "and more to do with potential attendance."

Lopez — who has been courted by Texas A&M, UCLA and Oklahoma, among others — said he never intended to leave the UA, but still needed a commitment from the school.

"The commitment I was looking for wasn't necessarily to me, but we have to go out and recruit the best players in the country."

Livengood pledged last season's dropped bid would not be repeated.

In late June, Lopez and Livengood walked through the stadium to brainstorm.

"The idea was to modernize, to just plain get our baseball facility better than it was," Livengood said. "Not a lot had been done to the baseball stadium in a lot of years."

Installation of the $275,000 scoreboard in right-center field should be completed this week, a week after baseball practice began. It includes a video screen, although the UA likely will not show instant replays.

To the right of the scoreboard will be a billboard detailing the UA's conference titles and postseason appearances.

Lopez, who spent seven seasons at Florida, got the idea from LSU, whose sign he dubbed "The Intimidator."

"You'd have to sit there and read the accomplishments for three days," he said.

Names of All-Americans, College World Series players and alums drafted into the majors will be displayed outside the left field line. Picnic benches and umbrellas will be set up on the concrete slab.

Grass berms have replaced bench seating along the left and right field lines. The stadium's capacity will remain at 6,500, but Lopez and Livengood envision a relaxed atmosphere, with fans laying in the sun.

While the new turf serves a practical purpose, the remodel represents more to junior shortstop Jason Donald.

"It's a symbol that our program is established now," he said. "When I took my (recruiting) trip, (the stadium) wasn't very nice. I think a field's a field. But it's definitely nice to have a nice ballpark."

Whether the changes draw fans is another question.

"Yes, they will" come, Livengood said, "if you win."

Lopez believes the upgrades will help him do just that.

"It makes it a lot easier to do what we're trying to do here," he said.