Ron Pilat doesn’t just want you to practice baseball when you walk into his facility.
Every time you enter, he wants you to fall in love with the game all over again.
“We want that baseball nostalgia,” Pilat said. “It’s not gonna be like that you walk in (and it’s) like a warehouse. We’re taking a lot of extra time. We’re working with a company that is doing costume wrapping on some of the walls.”
Pilat said the wrapping would give the walls the same ivy covered look as the iconic outfield wall in Wrigley Field.
Walls are also painted like a homerun fence and there are also memorable quotes from the most beloved baseball movies of all time hanging all over the facility which also serve as inspiration and tugs at the heart strings of what makes baseball such a special game.
“The second you pull up it’s gonna scream baseball,” Pilat said. “That’s the goal.”
Pilat is the proud owner of 3&2 Baseball, in the Town of Tonawanda, which opened to the public on September 1.
A 5,000 square foot facility with a gym (1,500 square feet), that features four full size-batting cages, 3&2 Baseball is poised to be a premiere indoor, year round training center for baseball and softball.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Pilat said. “All the equipment is brand new. The turf is 100 percent brand new. Besides that, it’s the small things like our baseball library, which is all books on techniques and biographies. The (baseball) quotes are gonna be all over the place.”
But 3&2 Baseball is more than just a warm, fuzzy look back at the game. Pilat wants it to stand out from the crowd of other similar indoor training centers.
One of the pluses he feels he is offering that when your team rents the facility. It’s all yours for that time frame and you’re not sharing it with other teams or individuals.
Pilat believes that having the center all to yourself will allow players to absorb more knowledge from their coaches because they have the benefit of constant motion.
There is no waiting in line for the cage or shagging fly balls. No lines for gym area. It’s all yours.
“There’s no sharing the facility and that’s sort of a common argument with all places because they pack so many people into it,” Pilat explained. “And when you take a dozen 12 year olds and you give them one batting cage you’ve got one kid working and the other 11 are kinda goofing around. So you really don’t get that much work in that time. With us, obviously, with Covid, we’re trying to keep people spread out, but you have the entire place to yourselves. So when you walk in let’s say Sunday morning from 10 to noon you basically own the facility.”
Even the family room is reserved for the families of the players/teams using the facility in any given two-hour block of time.
The family room will have televisions and baseball literature. As well as the unique feature of a one-way mirror so that families can watch their kids working out, but it won’t pose any distractions for the players because they can’t see inside.
A graduate of Kenmore West High School where he played baseball, Pilat’s resume includes college ball and independent leagues. He currently still plays MUNY. Pilat feels 3&2 Baseball filling a need, especially in the Northtowns. Something he began to realize while coaching his son Ron Jr’s (12) team.
Pilat, who four years ago, sustained an injury that ended his career in law enforcement said things just lined up perfectly to get this business off the ground now.
“There’s been a need in the Northtowns,” he said. “Every single team. Every single person that
I’ve talked to that has come through has said that exact same thing.”
Pilat stressed that he has nothing but respect and appreciation for other training centers of this nature. He’s simply trying to fill a need in this area while adding a dash of his own creativity to set themselves apart.
“There’s a bunch of great places in the area,” he said. “We still use one over in Cheektowaga and there’s a new that opened up in Niagara Falls that is really big. They’re doing amazing things. I would take away from what they are doing. They’re great baseball people. I know a lot of the owners personally, but there’s nothing in that close proximity to the Town of Tonawanda.”
Pilat believes that by offering an option closer to home it will alleviate the stress of traveling to farther locations during rush hour or bad weather.
A family business, Ron is hopeful he can pass it down to his kids Ron, Jr, Gabby (14) and
Alexandra (4) some day.
3&2 Baseball is located at 77 Oriskany Drive, just off Sheridan Drive.
To book your team or for more information call 907-1388 or email ron@3and2buffalo.com
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