Batter Up! Training Center has scheduled a grand opening on March 7. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Batter Up! Training Center)

By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – 'Built it and they will come' – that's the thought behind a new baseball training facility that's coming to Bloomington.

Batter Up! Training Center, 905 Martin Luther King Dr. is a 10,000 square-foot indoor facility for baseball and softball. Co-owner Mike Doherty said the center can be of particular beenfit to traveling youth teams.

"When they have four and six and eight hour-waits until their next game, they can come over to the facility, have the parents relax, use WiFi, sit in the air conditioning, have the kids taking hitting practice or just relax on the turf for a couple hours," Doherty said.

Doherty said the facility plans to have food service at some point.

Doherty said he and his businss partner, Ryan Sparrow, decided Bloomintgon-Normal didn't have enough indoor batting cages to meet demand in such a sports crazy community.

"The few places there are for kids to work out now are either booked solid or just don't have a big enough facility to handle more people," Doherty said.

This would be the third facility of its kind in the Twin Cities along with the Sports Enhancement Center in Bloomington and Warbird Training Academy in Normal.

Batter Up! will host a grand opening celebration on March 7.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].