The Central High School baseball team enters the 2013 season as an award-winner after the Georgia Dugout Club named The Ronnie E. Burchfield Baseball Field one of the fields of the year for its classification.

For Lion head coach Wesley Shiver, it is a labor of love to take care of the field and as he enters his second season leading the Central program. Shiver believes this honor adds to the pride the players have in being a part of the Central baseball team.

"We try to take pride in everything we do, starting with the field all the way down to our coaching. It gives the kids something nice to play on. When you have nice things, you hope the kids will try to excel in what they do. We try to give them a nice playing surface. It takes a lot of work and time, so we're proud to be noted as one of the fields of the year," Shiver said.

Last year Central finished with 17 wins and just missed out on its first playoff berth since 2006. With workouts going on and practices for this season about to get underway, the recognition from the GADC might give the Lions a bit of a momentum swing before games even begin.

"It's the time of the year when you do your two-on-ones with the kids, you try to get your pitchers' arms in shape for the start of practice that begins next week. Winning an award like this will hopefully give us some momentum going into the first part of the season. Hopefully, we can play well and continue that momentum. It's that time of the year where everything's getting cranked up and maybe an award like this can keep our kids a little more upbeat about what they're doing," Shiver said.

The Central field was honored as one of 18 fields in the state, being one of four honored in Class AAA. The focus now for the second-year coach is to keep the standard of the field high and see what can be done to make it even better down the road.

"We have a nice facility. Being able to come in, get some help and do things on the field to get it to a status where people look at it and say it's one of the nicest fields in the state, it does mean a lot. We'll continue to work on that and maybe add some new improvements here and there to keep it that way. It is nice to know that people see our field as one of the nicest in the state. We take a lot of pride in that," Shiver said.

The Lions open up the 2013 campaign on Feb. 18 against Mt. Zion.