La PLUME, Pa. - If you want to have a successful building program, Keystone College head baseball coach Jamie Shevchik has learned, you have to build it from the ground up.

That's what Shevchik, his staff, and players have done in a small upgrade to facilities that could mean a big deal for years to come.

To understand what's going on now, you need to look back a couple of years when a long-range plan was announced to upgrade the facilities of a budding Division III power that has been to the College World Series twice in the last decade, including a runner-up finish in 2016.

It started with a blueprint to add bleachers and a press box to Christy Mathewson Field, named for the Hall of Fame pitcher from Factoryville. With that plan came new dugouts, a new backstop, bullpen renovations, and new fencing.

One of the biggest steps for the program came beyond the left-center field fence, where an old maintenance building was converted into locker rooms for baseball and softball, a weight room, and a classroom for study groups and team meetings.

All was well and good, but the Giants still didn't have a facility for working on skills in the winter months.

Now they do, once again taking something old and turning it into something that Shevchik hopes will attract recruits.

"We had a couple of players who were chipping in, helping on a regular basis. We had a couple of the coaches helping, too. We started the project probably at the beginning of December and busted our tails to get this thing done and ready to go before these kids came back to school. We were able to do so.

"It's small but efficient."

A 60-by-24-foot garage that once housed mowers and other maintenance equipment is now the home to a facility that can, thanks to the latest computer technology, provide information on launch angles, pitching spin rates, and all the latest information on which baseball has become reliant.

It also saves on travel. During the winter, the squad travels to Baseball U Pa.'s indoor facility in Moosic to get its work in. That's a 42-mile commute each night for the 9 p.m.-to-midnight workouts.

"We don't have an indoor facility for our guys to practice at in the winter," Shevchik said. "We rent out Baseball U, we rent Riverfront. We have the gym with one batting cage in it, but it's nearly impossible to get in there because of all the winter sports that use it. You have both basketball teams, wrestling, and softball uses the gym. Years ago when we would use the gym, we would practice from 5:30-8:30 in the morning."

The 4:30 a.m. wakeup call left Shevchik, and his players, dragging in the middle of the day.

"Think about it. That's what we did for years, every single day in the winter," Shevchik said. "What happens is, the kids are sleeping midday during class, they're dragging their butts. So we started to rent Baseball U, six nights a week from 9 to midnight. It's a helluva lot better than 5:30 to 8:30 in the morning."

But not perfect. Other Division III programs, like the University of Scranton, have made remarkable upgrades to their facilities. To be competitive, and hopefully join national powers like Kean College and Wisconsin Whitewater, it will take more.

"Keystone has been moving in the right direction when it comes to athletic facilities," Shevchik said. "We have future plans of putting in two outdoor batting cages with a roof over it and lights. We've raised enough money for it. We're struggling to get through the permit process because everything where our baseball field is, is in a floodplain. Once we get the permits, we're going to start construction on that."

No doubt the players and coaches will have a hand in that, too.

"That's kind of been the cornerstone of our program for a long time," Shevchik said. "We take care of our own field. Even with this new grounds company coming in, and our old company, they would mow all around the field but they would never touch our field because it's something we took pride in."

So is their latest endeavor.