Coast Union High School gets baseball storage shed

For the past five or so years, Broncos baseball coach Brian Machado has eagerly pushed for a new, rodent-free, spacious storage facility — a place to securely stow and protect players’ gear and baseball-related equipment. 

Thanks to a group of volunteers who built a shed this year, Machado’s dreams have been realized: His program has been blessed with a brand new facility. 

The Lions Club of Cambria invested about $5,000 in the materials for the building, and club volunteers did most of the construction work.

“This shed we had been using was once a snack bar,” Machado explained as he opened the door to the old facility, which was filled to the rafters with helmets, bats, protective equipment, lime, the tools to make chalk lines on the field, and much more. 

Walking around in the new shed, a smiling, animated Machado said it was built on the tall side so landscaping equipment, uniforms, helmets, baseball bags, bats and other baseball necessities could be easily stored above. The garage door opens to 10 feet, allowing the protective batting practice screens to be stored easily. 

Assistant baseball coach Andy Zinn, who serves as Lions Club president, said Machado came to the Lions with a request to help with a new shed. 

“We talked about it and committed to doing it,” Zinn said. “But none of this would have happened without the help of Larry Kelly, a contractor and Lions Club member. His know-how and commitment made this happen.” 

The $5,000 came from the net proceeds the Lions raised at the 2014 Pinedorado festivities, Zinn said. 

“We don’t ask people for donations,” he said. “We just put on an event like Pinedorado. A lot of labor goes into it, but we raise the money and try to make good decisions as to how to spend the money.”

Zinn praised Lions members who contributed time and talent toward the completion of the new shed: Sharkey Warrick and Jim Hollingshead were “out here a lot,” Walt Thomason “did the roof by himself,” Ruben Villalobos “does a lot of volunteer work,” Dave Gerber “made a financial donation” and several other Lions Club members including Greg Bates, Richard Berry and Bill Rodrigues.

Coast Union baseball players Tommy Moreno and Nic Robertson painted the building, along with assistant baseball coach Steve Kniffen and Machado. 

“This building will be here for decades,” Zinn emphasized, with Machado nodding in agreement. “This is a strong building. And when people work together it’s nice.” 

This story was originally published February 4, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Coast Union High School gets baseball storage shed."