By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Columnist

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If you attend Wednesday's home opener for the A&M softball team you'll immediately notice that the roof at the Aggie Softball Complex has been removed to improve sight lines.

A&M has continued to make improvements to the facility, which opened in 1994. A locker room, players' lounge, coaches' offices and visitor's locker room was added five years ago to the venue that seats 1,750.

Those improvements have kept A&M on par with its closest Big 12 South rivals, Texas and Baylor. Texas opened $4.5-million McCombs Field, which seats 1,252, in 1998. Baylor opened Getterman Stadium, which seats 1,230, in 1999.

These palaces help recruiting. A&M and Baylor reached the Women's College World Series last year, while Texas has made four appearances in the last decade.

Olsen Field, home of A&M baseball, was something to behold when it opened in 1978. A&M has improved it over the years by adding more seats and amenities. The grandstand also was upgraded recently. Olsen remains one of the best places to watch a game because of the atmosphere created by the fans, but there's no doubt other schools have benefited from new parks.

Rice plays at 3,500-seat Reckling Park, which opened in 2000, and Houston plays in 3,500-seat Cougar Park, which opened in 1995. Baylor Ballpark, which opened in 1999, seats 5,000 and was rated by coaches as the No. 3 stadium in college baseball in a 2003 Baseball America survey.

It will be interesting to see reviews of Texas' Disch-Falk Field, which has undergone a $21-million renovation.

Texas increased seating at the 33-year-old venue to 8,000, added club seating and moved dugouts and bleachers closer to the field. Texas also did away with that awful AstroTurf and added FieldTurf.

A&M does not have any immediate plans for major renovation of Olsen or plans to build a new stadium.

"[A&M athletic director] Bill [Byrne] is always looking to improve our facilities for the student-athletes, coaches and fans," said Alan Cannon, associate athletic director. "Other than completing the indoor track facility nothing is really on the drawing board at this point.

"Long-range plans are always being talked about to be prepared if funding can be found."

There's no doubt Byrne and the Aggies have done a great job continuing to upgrade facilities, something that started under former athletic director Wally Groff.

You can't improve everything every year, but it would seem that a new ballpark would be warmly received. Maybe another trip to the Super Regionals or the College World Series would help open a few more wallets.

Two members of A&M's football signing class -- Austin LBJ linebacker Ricky Cavanaugh and Beaumont West Brook tight end Blake Chavis -- signed with Navarro College, but only as a contingency.

LBJ head coach Claude Mathis said Cavanaugh expects confirmation late this week that he's academically qualified for A&M, while Chavis' father, David Bill, also anticipates the same news for his son soon.

Bill said that West Brook head football coach Craig Stump, the former A&M quarterback, suggested that Chavis sign with a junior college as a precautionary move, which is common.

Carthage linebacker Rodney Chadwick (Baylor) and Killeen offensive lineman David Grant (Nebraska) also signed with Big 12 schools and Navarro.

I recently wrote about Bryan High and A&M grad Derrick Grubbs attending his first game at Reed Arena.

Grubbs was the public address announcer at Olsen Field during his stint as the athletics department's director of promotions before getting involved in professional baseball in 1990.

I identified him as assistant general manager for the Round Rock Express, a post he held for eight years.

However, he is now the Director of Events for the University of Texas athletic department. He was hired in October.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.

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