Ph.D, Soil Science - Penn State University (2023)

• Dissertation title: “Performance of baseball infield soil mixtures using novel laboratory tests”
• Graduate Student Teaching Certificate (September 2022)
• Graduate Student Online Teaching Certificate (May 2020)

M.S., Agronomy - Penn State University (2014)

• Thesis title: “Effects of pre-harvest cultural practices on the divot resistance of thick-cut Kentucky bluegrass sod”

B.S., Geology - Beloit College, Beloit, WI (2012)

• Magna Cum Laude
• Environmental Studies Minor
• Senior thesis title: “Temporal and geochemical controls of tufa deposition, southwestern Wisconsin”
• Varsity baseball:
  • Team honors: Workhorse award (2011-2012), Academic award (2011-2012), Most improved player (2011)
  • First-team All-Midwest Region (2012)

Biocore LLC (July 2023-present)

Charlottesville, VA

• Senior Engineer

  • Coordinate and execute NFL playing surface testing
  • Provide technical support to field managers, sod growers, and synthetic turf manufacturers
  • Curate and analyze proprietary data on athlete injury and performance
  • Prepare manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals
  • Prepare content for NFL executive briefings
  • Mentor junior engineers
  • Participate in budget planning for NFL/NFLPA research
  • Contribute content and editorial services for NFL Surface Best Practices

Pennsylvania State University (January 2019-June 2023)

University Park, Pennsylvania

• PhD student and graduate assistant
  • Independent research on physical properties of engineered infield soils
  • Laboratory instructor for Introduction to Soils and Turfgrass soil physics
  • Other research and teaching duties as assigned

Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club (August 2016-December 2018)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Manager of Field Operations (April 2018- December 2018)
  • Daily upkeep of the MLB playing surface at PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Maintain turf and skinned areas, coordinate tarp deployment, monitor irrigation, apply fertilizer and pesticides, service/repair equipment, maintain chemical inventory and supervise non-baseball events. Hire, train, schedule, and oversee union staff and interns. Contribute to payroll and budgeting efforts.
• Supervisor of Field Operations (August 2016- April 2018)
  • see above

Gwinnett Braves Baseball Club (January 2016-August 2016)

Lawrenceville, Georgia

• Assistant Sports Turf Manager
  • Maintenance of the playing surface at Coolray Field, home of the AAA Gwinnett Braves ¹. Duties comparable to those described above for PNC Park.

H&K Sports Fields (January 2015-January 2016)

Madison, Wisconsin

• Project Manager
  • Coordinate and implement sports field renovations. Worked and/or consulted on >100 athletic fields in 2015 while generating $178,000 of new contracts. Specific responsibilities included: specify and order materials, operate laser grading equipment, devise turfgrass maintenance programs, evaluate soil conditions through sampling/testing/analysis, cultivate relationships with clients, provide field maintenance training, and manage company blog and social media platforms.

New York Mets Baseball Club (May 2014-October 2014)

Flushing, New York

• Turf and grounds intern
  • Maintenance of the MLB playing surface at Citi Field. Additional responsibilities included maintenance of hydroponic vegetable garden and outdoor landscapes.

Penn State University (August 2012-December 2014)

University Park, PA

• Graduate assistant
  • Performed experiments at the Center for Sports Surface Research. Examples include traction testing at NFL stadiums, small-plot trials, lab analysis of soil samples per ASTM protocols, and maintenance of turfgrass greenhouse.

• M.S. thesis: Effects of pre-harvest cultural practices on the divot resistance of thick-cut Kentucky bluegrass sod. Published in refereed International Turfgrass Research Journal (Nov. 2017) and summarized in Sports Turf Magazine (May 2016).

Peer-reviewed manuscripts

Mascitti, E.C., and A.S. McNitt. 2024. A laboratory method to measure deformation of baseball infield soil surfaces using cleated footwear. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology (online only). https://doi.org/10.1177/17543371241237588

Mascitti, E.C., McNitt, A.S., and P.J. Drohan. 2024. Atterberg limits of baseball infield soils containing over-size particles, Part II: Effects of sand angularity and uniformity. Soil Research 62, SR23030. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR23030

Mascitti, E.C., McNitt, A.S., and P.J. Drohan. 2024. Atterberg limits of baseball infield soils containing over-size particles, Part I: effect of particle size. Soil Research 62, SR23029. https://doi.org/10.1071/SR23029

Mascitti, E.C., McNitt, A.S., and Serensits, T.J, 2017. Divot resistance of thick cut sod as influenced by preharvest nitrogen and sand topdressing. International Turfgrass Society Research Journal. 13: p. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.2134/itsrj2017.01.0010

Manuscripts in preparation

Mascitti, E.C. and McNitt, A.S. 2025. Effect of particle size distribution and clay mineralogy on behavior of drying baseball infield soils. In preparation; planned submission to Sports Engineering.

Mascitti, E.C. and McNitt, A.S. 2025. Using the unconfined compression test to measure toughness of fine-grained soils. In preparation; planned submission to Applied Clay Science.

Trade magazine articles

Mascitti, E.C. 2021. What is clay? SportsField Management Magazine. October issue. https://sportsfieldmanagementonline.com/2021/10/12/what-is-clay/13123/

Mascitti, E.C. and McNitt, A.S., 2021. Dissecting infield playability. SportsField Management Magazine. March issue. https://sportsfieldmanagementonline.com/2021/03/15/dissecting-infield-playability/12504/

• also reprinted in the following periodicals:
  • Pennsylvania Turfgrass, Spring 2021
  • North Carolina Turfgrass, May/June 2021
  • Tennessee Turfgrass, April/May 2021
  • Mississippi Turfgrass Asssociation Magazine, Summer 2022

Mascitti, E.C., McNitt, A.S., and Serensits, T.J., 2016. Lean and mean: Sod production for in-season field replacements. SportsTurf Magazine. https://sportsfieldmanagementonline.com/2016/05/31/lean-and-mean-sod-production-for-in-season-field-replacements/8035/

Blog posts

Available at evan-soil.io/blog.

Instructor of record

SOILS 921a, Turfgrass soil physics Edaphology - Spring 2023 (Instructor rating 7.0/7)

Lab instructor

SOILS 102, Introduction to Soils

• Spring 2020 (Student rating 6.88/7 )
• Spring 2014 (Student rating 6.60/7)

Teaching assistant

TURF 434, Turfgrass edaphology - Fall 2021

TURF 235, The Turfgrasses - Fall 2012

2020

• Project title: Novel methods for baseball infield soil testing
  • Funded by the Foundation for Safer Athletic Fields for Everyone (SAFE) for $5,000.
  • $5,000 in matching funds received from Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council

2012-2013

• Project title: Pre-harvest cultural practices for thick cut Kentucky bluegrass sod
  • In-kind support provided by Tuckahoe Turf Farms (sod, topdressing sand, and labor; estimated value $8,000)
  • Matching funding by Keystone Athletic Managers Organization and Pennsylvania Turfgrass Council

Technical presentations:

Extension/outreach presentations:

Guest lectures and invited presentations:

2024

• In the Dirt/On the Turf With Evan Mascitti. Frankly Speaking (TurfNet Radio) [Recording link]

2022

• Early-season infield care and material selection. Cornell Turfgrass Show 2022: Episode 4. [Recording link]

2021

• Safe baseball infields. Cornell Turfgrass Show 2021: Episode 10. [Recording link]

• What makes a quality infield mix? Fresh Cut Grass: Season 1, episode 9. [Recording link]