Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium

Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium is a baseball park on the campus of Mississippi State University, just outside the city limits of Starkville, Mississippi. It's the home of the 2021 NCAA Baseball Championship Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball team. DNF-PDS has been the setting of Southeastern Conference tournaments, NCAA Regional and Super Regional Championships, and it holds the current NCAA on-campus single-game attendance record at 16,423. It is known for the Left Field Lounge.

Polk-DeMent Stadium
"The Dude"
"Carnegie Hall of College Baseball"
Polk-DeMent Stadium is located in Mississippi
Polk-DeMent Stadium
Polk-DeMent Stadium
Location in Mississippi
Polk-DeMent Stadium is located in the United States
Polk-DeMent Stadium
Polk-DeMent Stadium
Location in the United States
Full nameDudy Noble Field at Polk–Dement Stadium
Former namesDudy Noble Field (1967–1998)
Address145 Lakeview Drive
LocationMississippi State, MS, United States
Coordinates33.4628°N 88.7944°W / 33.4628; -88.7944
TypeStadium
Genre(s)Baseball
Executive suites3
Capacity7,200 seats, 15,000 standing [1]
Record attendance16,423 (current NCAA on-campus record)
Field sizeLF: 330 ft (100.6 m)
LC: 376 ft (114.6 m)
CF: 390 ft (118.9 m)
RC: 374 ft (114.0 m)
RF: 305 ft (93.0 m)
Acreage12
SurfaceTiflawn & Tifway II Bermuda Grass
Scoreboard43 feet wide by 60 feet high
Construction
Opened3 April 1967 (1967-04-03)
Renovated1987, 2018
Demolished2017
ArchitectWier Boerner Allin
Populous
Janet Marie Smith
Project managerICM
General contractorW.G. Yates & Sons (original)
JESCO Construction, Inc. (current)
Tenants
Mississippi State Bulldogs (1967–Present)
Website
spark.adobe.com/page/TMH93dVe2rYp3/

History

Mississippi State has been playing baseball at the present stadium site for 50 years, dating back to April 3, 1967, and a 5–3 Mississippi State win over Illinois Wesleyan.

What today stands as one of college baseball's top facilities grew in large part from the labors of Tom D'Armi, chief assistant coach to longtime Bulldog skipper Paul Gregory. When the tin-roofed grandstand and bleachers seating more than 2,000 were moved to the stadium's present site in the mid-1960s, it became D'Armi's task to "build" the new field. The task of hauling in and leveling top soil, planting and nurturing the turf, building the bullpens, placing signs on the outfield fence and planting the cedar trees beyond the outfield fence, fell to D'Armi. The hard work didn't go unrecognized. The field was subsequently honored by the U.S. Groundskeeper's Association as the nation's best maintained athletic field.

The facility was constructed on schedule by W.G. Yates & Sons of Philadelphia, Miss.

The Bulldog Club, MSU's athletic fund-raising body, shouldered a $2 million bonding program to account for the biggest portion of the project, with the remainder financed by alumni and friends through the sale of $1,000, $500 and $250 chairback seats, honorary deeds to plots of Dudy Noble Field turf, and other general donations.

For the book Inside Dudy Noble, A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball, MSU alumnus John Grisham wrote an introduction[2] about his time at MSU and in the Left Field Lounge.

The infield and portions of the adjoining outfield areas have in recent years been resodded, the infield dirt replaced, and the pitcher's mound rebuilt.

The green padding on the facing of the stadium wall was replaced prior to the 2002 season, and a new flooring material has been installed in both dugouts and the tunnels leading to them. The Bulldog locker room has been completely recarpeted, improved lighting added and new lockers installed, one of many projects funded by the four-year-old MSU Dugout Club.

Early in the 2004 season a speaker system was added near the concession stand area, while a new state-of-the-art scoreboard/message center was installed in the middle of the season beyond the existing scoreboard.

Also begun during the final week of the 2004 home season was the installation of wrought iron fencing and gates beneath the grandstand.

Additional stadium improvements are on the drawing board, all part of Mississippi State's commitment to maintain Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium as the consummate collegiate ballpark for players and spectators alike.

In 2007 Dudy Noble held the largest crowd in super regional history of 13,715 in a victory over the Clemson Tigers that sent the Bulldogs to the College World Series in Omaha, NE.

Following the 2008 Season, a new larger Hi-Def video board replaced the 4-year old smaller screen along with a covering for the back of the scoreboard which displays the current year's baseball schedule. Planned renovations for the summer of 2009 include replacing all the out-dated drainage and pump systems below the field and all grass on the field.

In March 2013, Dudy Noble debuted a new mobile concessions ordering service — dawgsnax.com — with in-seat food delivery for fans in the grandstand seating area.[3]

In 2017, Dudy Noble was mostly leveled to make way for an all-new Dudy Noble Field, which was completed for the 2019 season.

The Left Field Lounge

Old Dudy Noble Field from the outfield

The Left Field Lounge is the area beyond the outfield fence. It is unique in college baseball, and has enabled the grounds to be named the "#1 place to watch college baseball" and among the "100 things you gotta do before you graduate" by Sports Illustrated.[4] In 2009 the lounge was named "the country's best tailgating experience" (among all sports venues) by ESPN Magazine.[5]

Championships

Dudy Noble Field has hosted four SEC tournaments (1979, 1981, 1983, and 1988), one SEC Western Division Tournament (1995), three NCAA District III tournaments (1973-75), 15 NCAA Regional tournaments (1979, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2021), and 4 Super Regionals (2007, 2016, 2019 and 2021.)

Attendance

SEC and Super Regional weekend games typically draw the largest crowds, giving rise to huge weekend gatherings. Mississippi State currently holds the NCAA record for the largest single game on-campus baseball attendance at 16,423 in a game against SEC rival Ole Miss. In 2021 versus Notre Dame, MSU had the NCAA's top all-time highest attended Super Regional game with 14,385 fans. This 2021 Super Regional also had attendance of 13,971 and 11,754 in the other two games for an NCAA record attendance for a super regional series of 40,140. On April 14-16, 2023, Mississippi State fans set the on-campus record for most-attended 3-game series by packing 43,986 fans into the Dude over the course of three games against arch rival Ole Miss, a series they won 2-1. [6][7]

Mississippi State has all 15 of the top 15 on-campus crowds in the history of college baseball, and 23 of the top 25. Overall, DNF-PDS has held 22 crowds over 12,000 and 58 crowds over 10,000.

In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the stadium as the best big game atmosphere in Division I baseball.[8]

Top baseball crowds at DNF-PDS

RankAttendanceOpponentDateRecord broken
116,423Ole MissApril 15, 2023NCAA on-campus record
215,586Ole MissApril 12, 2014#2 NCAA on-campus record
315,078Texas A&MApril 16, 2016#3 NCAA on-campus record
414,991FloridaApril 22, 1989#4 NCAA on-campus record
514,739Ole MissApril 14, 2023#5 NCAA on-campus record
614,562AuburnApril 20, 2013#6 NCAA on-campus record
714,385Notre DameJune 12, 2021#7 NCAA on-campus record
NCAA Super Regional single-game record
814,378LSUApril 16, 1988#8 NCAA on-campus record
914,320Arizona StateFebruary 25, 2023#9 NCAA on-campus record
1014,077AlabamaMarch 26, 2022#10 NCAA on-campus record
1113,971Notre DameJune 13, 2021#11 on-campus record
#2 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
1213,761ArkansasApril 25, 1992#12 NCAA on-campus record
1313,715ClemsonJune 9, 2007#13 NCAA on-campus record
#3 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
1413,691KentuckyApril 8, 2017#14 NCAA on-campus record
1513,617GeorgiaApril 8, 2006#15 NCAA on-campus record
1613,452ArizonaJune 11, 2016#17 NCAA on-campus record
#4 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
1713,351Long Beach StateFebruary 18, 2022#18 NCAA on-campus record
1813,338Ole MissApril 17, 2021#19 NCAA on-campus record
First home series after lifting of COVID-19 restrictions
1913,224Ole MissApril 11, 2014#20 NCAA on-campus record
2013,132StanfordJune 8, 2019#21 NCAA on-campus record
#5 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
2113,123Ole MissApril 15, 2000#22 NCAA on-campus record
2213,004FloridaApril 18, 2005#24 NCAA on-campus record
2312,708ArizonaJune 10, 2016#25 NCAA on-campus record
#6 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
2412,708AuburnApril 24, 1993#26 NCAA on-campus record
2512,620ClemsonJune 8, 2007#27 NCAA on-campus record
#7 NCAA Super Regional single-game record

See also

References

  1. "Facilities - Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium".
  2. "Take Me Out to the Ballpark". Mississippi State University University Libraries. Mississippi State University. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  3. "No. 3 Bulldogs Wrap up Homestand Hosting 12-1 UCA Bears - Mississippi State University Bulldogs Official Athletic Site - HailState.com". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2013-03-11.
  4. "SI.com - SI on Campus - SI on Campus: 100 Things You Gotta do Before You Graduate - Thursday September 25, 2003 12:39PM". Archived from the original on 2007-06-04. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
  5. http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=365161852&o=int&prev=si&pg=seo&p=61
  6. Hansen, Eric (14 June 2021). "Notre Dame's anger management has Irish on the brink of College World Series berth". ND Insider. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  7. "Bulldogs knock off Notre Dame, get back to College World Series". The Vicksburg Post. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  8. Sorenson, Eric (5 October 2012). "Distiller's Dozen - The "Hey, Nice Stadium" Edition". CollegeBaseballToday.com. Archived from the original on 29 November 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.