Behind the pine-covered campus of whitworth University, you can find the beautiful Merkel Stadium, the home of whitworth University baseball team. Merkel Field was named in memory of former head coach Paul Merkel, who coached at 1956- 197 1 and led the pirates to win the only national championship in any sport at 1960. He is a talented player and athlete, but he studied in whitworth when he didn't play baseball at school. However, Merkel has written about football, basketball and tennis. 1946- 1948 baseball returned to whitworth college and continued to serve as a graduate assistant. After teaching high school track and field team in my hometown for a period of time, I returned to China as head coach on 1956. In addition to being the head coach of baseball in 15 season, he was also the assistant football coach of Whitworth Sports director in 1958- 1972 season and 1987 season. When 1989 Merkel officially retired, whitworth quickly dedicated the baseball field to his honor. Merkel's greatest achievement was to lead the Pirates to the only national championship in any sport. His pirate team took part in the NAIA baseball championship in 1960. The team was led by ace Ray washburne, who later threw a no-hit for the St. Louis Cardinals with a score of 1964.

Since the pirates entered the third division of NCAA, they have won the Northwest Division Championship twice (20 12, 20 16) and the Northwest Division Championship once (20 15). All three champions led the Pirates into the NCAA regional playoffs. In 20 12, Whitworth has made enough progress to participate in the world series in the third division of NCAA.

What you see in this field today is not always like this. In the past ten seasons, many transformations have restored the land to its original state. On 20 10, the outfield fence and scoreboard were improved, and the news stand was built on 20 14. The most important transformation took place on 20 13, when the whole infield, including the arbor, net and stands, was replaced. After the Pirates participated in the NCAA Third World Series, an artificial lawn infield, as well as underground bunkers, nets and ground stands were put into use. Conditions in this field now allow fewer game cancellations and year-round practice, even in Spokane's dreary winter.

The Merkel field is indeed whitworth's "dream field"