And baseball.

For the facilities maintenance department at the University of North Carolina's Boshamer Stadium, there is no off-season in Chapel Hill. In the cold of late February, they bring the field out of winter hibernation for the start of spring practices.

In baseball's regular season, they regularly arrive around 7 a.m. to prepare the field for practice and games. They work hard to maintain the field for a 50-game schedule.

Now, as summer looms, they keep the field pristine in expectation of baseball camps this month. It's not as hectic as a typical work week in mid-soring, but it's still work.

On a sunny Monday morning, three men in T-shirts and jeans, gather inside Boshamer baseball stadium. Joe Hunt, Mike Hribnak and Dan Clayton are responsible for keeping the second-year stadium, extensively renovated and expanded before the 2010 season, up to par.

"We have eight grounds guys that take care of our outdoor facilities," director of facilities Kevin Robinson says. "That's what we have been charged with, and that's what we do."

The facilities maintenance department has become an important branch of the athletic department. Working out of a two-story building barely five minutes from campus, the facilities crew takes care of all the major fields on campus. Kenan football stadium, Anderson softball stadium and Fetzer field are under the supervision of Robinson and his co-workers. But in the spring, Boshamer is priority 1.

"The most work involved is baseball because you have the grass and the dirt," Hribnak says. "Coaches are a little more meticulous about baseball because the dirt can affect the way the ball bounces."

Hribnak and his crew consider field upkeep as much more than riding a lawn mower. The crew regularly changes the type of grass based on time of year.

"During the summer we will use only Bermuda, and during the winter the Bermuda really goes dormant and we use the rye," Hunt, a member of the three-man baseball crew, says. "You have to mix and match for whatever the season."

Changing grass variety is just the tip of the iceberg.

The crew's responsibility includes raking the infield, replacing the packing-clay at the pitcher's mound and home-plate, putting out the bases, mowing and watering the grass, and cleaning the dugouts.

Such a laundry list of tasks makes the baseball stadium the most challenging facility to maintain. Robinson has been taking care of baseball fields his entire life.

Robinson started taking care of fields at Broughton high school in Raleigh and continues to this day.

"I had a physical education class with my baseball coach, and I would go out there and mow the field during school so that we could have the grass nice and tight when we played on it that afternoon," Robinson says. "We were the ones out there playing on it."

Robinson went on to receive a degree in agronomy program at N.C. State and hasn't looked back.

After stops at the University of South Carolina and the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team, Robinson signed on with UNC to direct the facilities management. With an operating budget that reached $61.4 million in 2008-09, the athletic department has the resources to provide Robinson and his coworkers with plenty of resources.

"We have three guys there who basically work all morning until about lunch time to get it ready for playing shape by 3 p.m.," Robinson says of a typical shift during the regular season. "It's an all-day process really."

New equipment makes the job easier. The workers use fairway lawn mowers in the outfield and walk-behind mowers in the infield. But the baseball schedule provides obstacles to keeping the field in good shape.

Weather plays a huge role in the condition of the field.

"A cold, rainy, night game is horrible," Hribnak says. "The clay tracks everywhere. You are constantly going out there raking the infield. Postgame cleanup is a pain because clay is tracked everywhere. You have ruts, and the clay is dug out if it hasn't been firmed up properly.

"Plus it is cold and it is raining and no one wants to be out here."

The constant slate of games wears down the field as well.

"Baseball plays a lot of games," Robinson notes. During the season, there are games Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday almost every week, especially at the beginning of the year.

Beginning June 21, UNC hosts a succession of seven camps for young players, one every week into August.

When the team isn't playing games, it uses the field for practice. In the fall, there are weeks of full fledge drills for the players, culminating in a "Carolina World Series" that serves as the Blue-White scrimmage for the Diamond Heels.

The frequent use of the field in season translates into less time for the crew to renew the field. Out-of-town series provide an opportunity to aerate and fertilize the field. But the ultimate goal of all of the maintenance is to help the team win.

"They want the clay during a game to be just the right amount of wetness," Hunt says. "If it's too dry and hard, it will crack and get bad hops.

"They just want the field to be nice and level, no big dips or anything like that. And of course they want a lot of green grass."

Assistant softball coach Beverly Smith believes field conditions play an important role in a team's success.

"Field conditions are very important, and I think all coaches have specific things they like to have done to the field," Smith says. "Our game is so fast that we really like the infield to be smooth so that we aren't going to have any bad hops or anything like that."

In other sports, such as soccer and football, the effect a field crew has on team performance is more limited. Robinson says football maintenance simply requires mowing and line-painting. Because the baseball field requires such meticulous care, the crew feels more connected with the program.

"Coach and the players recognize us, and they let us know when we are doing a good job or bad job," Hribnak says. "So, yeah, I think we are embraced."

The crew and Robinson enjoy the coach's acknowledgement of their work. But they know they are doing some of their best when nobody notices they are there.

"You want it to look good, obviously, for the players because this is their home field," Hribnak says.

"You want the people walking in the front gate to say, 'wow, it looks great.'"