Van Nuys Has Diamond in Rough : High schools: If problems can be solved, Wolves finally might get baseball field on campus.

Nobody is checking the calendar in anticipation, but the Van Nuys High baseball team might soon play an actual home game.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has given the school permission to pursue funding for the construction of an on-campus baseball field, which could end years of logistics problems.

Coach Bill Gordon said he will attempt to find private funding for the project. The field might be named in honor of the late Don Drysdale, a Hall of Fame pitcher with the Dodgers and a Van Nuys graduate.

The field would be located behind the visitors’ bleachers of the football field. Building the facility would end decades of bus trips and headaches for Van Nuys players and coaches, not to mention the opposition. Van Nuys opened in 1915, yet the baseball team has never played a game on campus.

For years, Van Nuys played at Van Nuys Sherman Oaks Park, two miles from campus. The facility has no pitcher’s mound, among other problems. The team often practices at the park, creating transportation problems.

For the past two seasons, the Wolves have played their “home” games at their opponent’s field. Van Nuys would bat in the bottom of the inning when they were the designated home team. It beats playing at the park, Gordon said.

“It’s just so we could play on a better field,” Gordon said.

City Section Commissioner Hal Harkness visited the proposed site this month and said he has “serious concerns” about whether the facility will fit in the proposed area.

Harkness said a blacktop basketball court about 220 feet down the right-field line would need to be removed and that a stand of eucalyptus trees is located in center, 375-390 feet from where the the plate likely would be located.

“They need to first research interest in the facility and then determine the feasibility,” he said.

Harkness said that if funding is secured, some of it must be spent on “real professional advice” regarding how to tailor the field to fit the available space.

“I’ve got real concerns about safety,” Harkness said. “It’s right in the midst of the campus, where there’s a lot of traffic.”

Harkness said that to legitimize the dimensions of the field, a fence of at least 10 feet in height would need to be constructed.