Nats will take BP at newly opened Youth Baseball Academy on March 29

The Nationals have announced they will conduct batting practice for their March 29 exhibition game at Nats Park across town that morning at their new Youth Baseball Academy in Fort Dupont Park. Later that day, the Nationals and Tigers conclude their spring schedules in Washington at a 2 p.m. exhibition. The batting practice will be preceded by a ribbon-cutting ceremony involving special guests, including Nationals players and executives, local and federal government leaders, and the academy's inaugural class of scholar-athletes. According to the team release, invited guests include D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray; Deputy Secretary Michael L. Connor, Department of the Interior; Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton; D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson; D.C. Councilmember Yvette Alexander; Events DC President and CEO Greg O'Dell; Nationals Youth Baseball Academy Chair Rodney Slater; Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo; and Nationals Managing Principal Owner Theodore N. Lerner. The academy is a year-round educational and athletic facility designed to provide quality after-school and summer learning programs for boys and girls in Washington, D.C., neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River. It is the result of a unique public-private partnership that includes the Nationals, the Nationals Dream Foundation, the D.C. government, Events DC, the National Park Service and the local business and philanthropic community.