ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - Bard College's newest athletic facility, Honey Field, was dedicated in a ceremony on Saturday afternoon. The ceremony was followed by an intrasquad scrimmage.

The theme of the day was gratitude. 

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Director of Athletics Kris Hall kicked off the festivities with a warm welcome to those who attended. She expressed gratitude for the gift, which had been an anonymous donation until Saturday, when the donor showed up and took part in the ceremony. After head coach Ed Kahovec and current players Alec Montecalvo and Tom Danz spoke and again expressed their gratitude, Bard President Leon Botstein took the microphone.

He acknowledged in his early remarks how "surreal" it was to be standing on a baseball field at Bard, and he thanked Hall for her leadership in seeing the project through. He then introduced 1981 Bard graduate and current trustee Jim Chambers, who made the $2.2 million donation for the field and named it after his mother, Anne Cox Chambers, known to all who love her as "Honey."

"There is a matrix of connections between my family and Bard," Chambers said. "This is very cool."

Botstein and Chambers each threw out ceremonial first pitches and posed for photos.

The Chambers family has made numerous donations to Bard over the years, most recently Honey Field and the Anne Cox Chambers Alumni/ae Center. An organic farmer and a filmmaker, Chambers talked to players and coaches, walked around the facility and into the press box, and watched all of the scrimmage that followed.

Special acknowledgment in remarks from Hall and Kahovec were made to Vice President for Development and Alumni/ae Affairs Debra Pemstein, Vice President for Administration Jim Brudvig, and Director of Physical Plant Chuck Simmons. The project began last winter. The field surface was ready just in time for summer camp, and the bleachers and press box were installed this week, just in time for Saturday's event.

Varsity baseball was voted out as a spring sport at Bard in 1937, and it didn't return until 2013. That's because Jim Chambers Jr., who was an undergrad at Bard, founded the club team and made the push for obtaining a field and eventual varsity status.

After the National Anthem was sung by Bard freshman Josh Stuart, a member of the men's basketball team, the Raptors played the Raptors in a Grey vs. White seven-inning scrimmage.

The Grey team, coached by assistant coach Andy Salvatore, defeated the White team, coached by assistant coach Sean Buchanan, 8-4.

The next time the Raptors are out there on Honey Field playing, it'll be for real. The 2015 season kicks off with a pair of non-league doubleheaders on Feb. 27 and 28.