BURTCHVILLE TWP. — Derelict for over a decade, the baseball diamond behind the former Lakeport Elementary School sat crumbling in silence.
“It was completely deserted and forgotten about,” said Jason Milhoan, who owns Lakeport Barber Shop three blocks east. “Mother Nature was taking it over. Mother Nature always wins.”
That changed in late March, when Mother Nature finally met her match — two youth baseball coaches, 10 players and a community ready to turn the page.
“This is a bunch of fathers coming together and putting some back-breaking work together to give their kids a place to play,” Milhoan said. “They literally dug this from the grave and brought it out back into life.”
A local 9U travel team, the Outlaws, resurrected the field to its former glory.
“We’ve logged about 275 labor hours getting the place to where it’s at right now,” Outlaws coach Rob Radatz said. “It’s just been amazing. It’s been a good experience for all of us and a lot of a learning curve, too.”
“(The fun part is) that we get to use this for every single practice,” said Ryan Zayas, who is on the team along with Reid Radatz, Patrick DeStefanis, Owen Heuvelman, Luke Vincent, Mason Damon, Landon Lisecki, Connor Bissett, Kyden Dennis and Nicholas Konkal.
“We actually had a practice last year (on this field) for Little League,” said assistant coach Tyler Zayas, who is also Ryan’s dad. “That’s how I found out about it. It just kind of fell in our hands, really.”
The two coaches established the Outlaws in July 2025. However, they didn’t have a park to call home.
“We were looking for a field to play at,” Rob Radatz said. “Around here, all the fields are booked up.”
That’s when they reached out to Milhoan about getting in touch with Freedom Lighthouse Fellowship, a non-denominational church that moved into the former Lakeport Elementary School in December 2024. Milhoan connected the coaches with Gene Warren, the church’s pastor.
“We met (Warren) out here and (everything) was overgrown,” Rob Radatz said. “The weeds were like two feet tall. It was just a mess. No one had played here in 15 years … we just basically made a deal with (Warren) that we brought it back up to safe operating conditions. And then we got a five-year lease on it.”
Work commenced quickly, as the team was eager to get started.
“We had some kids painting (the dugouts),” Tyler Zayas said. “Some kids were out here raking, picking up trash.”
“I have a good buddy who loaned us some heavy equipment,” Rob Radatz said. “We had some back hoes out here. We had some team parents that came out with their own lawn equipment and helped us out. Without them, it’s just not possible.”
The Outlaws feel their job isn’t finished, though, since two other abandoned baseball diamonds sit directly behind their own.
“We want to get that other field — field #2 — up to par to the same level as this one,” Rob Radatz said. “Then, the senior league (field) over there, we’re going to do that one last. That’s going to be a big undertaking. It’s in rough shape.
“We’ve still got a ways to go. But, hopefully, we’ll be able to bring some tournaments back to the area.”
No matter what, they’ll always be the ones who brought baseball back.
“I’m just excited to have a team in the field,” Milhoan said. “I’m excited to have somebody resurrect something that’s been dead for 10 years. I think it’s great for the community … I’m excited to see what the future brings.”
Contact Brenden Welper at bwelper@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @BrendenWelper.
This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: Local youth baseball team breathes life back into once-abandoned field
Reporting by Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald / Port Huron Times Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Brenden Welper, Port Huron Times Herald | USA TODAY Network
