After a successful start to its season, another new set of games is coming to the baseball field in a small Greene County town.

The Rippey Baseball Commission will host its first high school baseball games on Monday between the Perry Bluejays and the Nevada Cubs. Director of Media Relations Bruce Thome tells Raccoon Valley Radio they’ve been planning for these games since last year when he was contacted by Nevada’s head baseball coach.

“Last summer (the coach) was talking about, ‘I’d like to get a game there (in Rippey).’ In the fall he was like, ‘We got Perry on our schedule, let’s contact our ADs and let’s do it.’ I’m like, ‘Yes, awesome, let’s do it.’ So May 23rd it was on their schedule, so here we are.”

In preparation for this summer, Thome says they’ve done several updates to Walt Anderson Field, starting with a drainage issue between second and third base.

“Four truck loads of dirt came from Iowa Falls. It’s all like been leveled off and right now the water drains perfect. We put in new outfield screens. Rolling Hills Bank, they purchased the screen and then the company that I had, they printed the Rippey mural that’s on the bank onto the screen. So it’s actually in the outfield. It’s a really cool feature there at the ballpark.”  

Thome adds they also created walk-up areas from the dugouts to home plate, along with new paint and improvements in the concession stand. Monday’s games begin with junior varsity at 5pm and the varsity game at 7. Admission is $5 per person.