BEST D3 BALL PARKS

Great topic.  Unfortunately I can't contribute much as here in NorCal D3 baseball is nonexistent. But I was at the Johns Hopkins facility recently and it's darn nice.

 

So what fields do you like in the NW?

I follow Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH. When I attended in the 80's, the Yeoman played on a classic, uskinned grass field, that didn't shed water well. Now they have a brand new, fully-turfed, fully-fenced field, and a new press box. Program is rising and made its first Regionals in school history this year.

 

This is a good example of improvements in facilities at that school. I played ice hockey on their last DIII team (went club) and our home ice was an open air (although full surrounded by a cool quanset-style roof) rink with hurricane fencing instead of glass). Brutal January night games on Fridays!

Really like PLU and Whitworth out here in Washington.

In the mid atlantic I think it's either Johns Hopkins or Misericordia.

Yes, in the Northwest Conference PLU, Linfield and now Whitworth (with their newly renovated field) all have great turf infield playing surfaces.  From a fan standpoint, Linfield is a great stadium.  Whitman has probably the nicest stadium from a fan comfort standpoint, with stadium seats, etc, but the natural grass playing surface can get beat up from weather, etc.  Willamette's stadium is also a very nice setup from a fan's standpoint.

 

Worst D3 facility I ever watched a game at in four years was University of Dallas, hands down.

It isn't just the ballfield...University of Dallas has to rank as one of the ugliest campuses in the nation! 

 

2012 plays D1.  I've always been stunned at how poor some of those facilities are.  Except in the SEC where we've seen palaces.  U of San Diego was incredible too.

 

2016 is looking at D3.  We've been to a lot of campuses.  Many ballparks and facilities are poor.  But there's definitely a new arms race across college campuses for creating great exercise facilities, though perhaps not the baseball field. 

 

We liked a lot of the Southern ballparks.  Birmingham Southern and Rhodes come to mind.  Up in Indiana, Earlham has a new facility that's pretty impressive for a school it's size.  The complex at Hope College in Michigan was pretty nice too.  The park at Case Western in Cleveland was solid.  I like the setting for the field at Occidental.

Yes, it has the architectural appeal of a state penitentiary.

University of Chicago is actually the worst D3 yard I've seen by far... Though if attending UChicago, the baseball field is probably an afterthought. U Dallas ballpark leaves a lot to be desired for sure. Conversely, University of Texas-Dallas has a new park that is nice.  Son and I saw a game there this season... Great crowd of students on hand.

 

I think the best D3 ballpark I've seen so far is Emory in Atlanta.  The yards at Trinity U in San Antonio, Washington U in St Louis, Grinnell in Iowa and Millsaps in Jacksonville, MS are all above avg.

Webster University in St. Louis plays at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, IL. This turf facility is owned by the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League. It's spring is spent shared by the Gorlock and the Lynx of Lindenwood-University Belleville while also hosting numerous high school games and other college games. Saint Louis University plays there multiple times each year and this year they hosted the Illinois-Missouri game.

 

Univeristy of Wisconsin-Whitewater has a turf infield and grass outfield. 

Roanoke College in Virginia has nearly 100% access to the Red Sox minor league stadium. It's tremendous. Only a couple of weeks overlap with the Class A team's season so it's not like they just play their games there. They have the locker room, coaches offices…full run of the place.

That is pretty cool for Roanoke.  The ODAC has some nice ballparks, especially compared to the late 80's when I played. Randolph-Macon and Hampden-Sydney have outstanding fields and IMO W&L is the best of the bunch that I have seen in the past 2-3 years hauling my kid to summer tournaments. 

One of the best parts of our College Bus Tours has to be watching the kids face when they see facilities at some of the D3 programs.

 

Some kids still think that D3 is some sort of "red headed step kid" of college baseball.  No offense to you red headed step kids out there.

 

We are blessed here in VA to have some outstanding facilities.  Feel free to go through some of the pictures from our College Bus Tours... http://www.playinschool.com/pics

 

Couple of highlights...

RMC is $2 million yard.  Beautiful.  With more additions coming in the form of concessions, bathrooms, etc.  

HSC is named "Ty Cobb Park".  Ty Cobb's granddaughter married a HSC alum.  I love the way the place turned out.

W&L might have one of the best surfaces around.  

Roanoke moved from a historic MiLB park to a modern MiLB park.  

 

Rich

www.PlayInSchool.com/bus_tour  <--- spots available for 2015

PIS - thanks for the info but it would be highly useful if you did not use acronyms in that manner.  OK to use them after you have defined them, but I have no clue what schools you are referring to and guessing there are others in the audience who do not know either.  Thanks.

RMC--Randolph Macon

HSC--Hampden-Sydney

W&L--Washington & Lee

California Lutheran, where my son is headed, has a really nice yard and stadium.  Unfortunately no lights, though.  All the athletic  facilities surrounding it have lights.  The tennis stadium, the pool, the football stadium.   But they didn't put lights in originally, when it would have been cheap.  And now to add lights would be very expensive -- cause they have to be the new environmentally sound kind.

University of Rochester and Bard College both have outstanding new turf fields with lights.

Vassar

Pomona-Pitzer's Alumni field is terrific. Simple but immaculate. Natural grass, Proper scoreboard. http://magazine.pomona.edu/2013/summer/field-notes/

UT Tyler

Adrian College in Michigan. My son's team played in a tournament there last week and was very impressed. Turf field, covered grandstand. http://adrianbulldogs.com/facilities/nicolay

 

Best or worst - i don't know.  It is too subjective. However, my favorite is Gettysburg. Well manicured natural grass (fake grass fields are not even considered here), wide open all around and an unobstructed view of the Battlefield.

In the NCAC the best are probably Wabash , Wittenberg and Oberlin. Only issue with Oberlin is it now has a turf field, But being in northern Ohio it is probably a good idea. 

Have either seen first hand or have seen good video/pics and these seem to be the nicer ones and they tend to go along with the success of each program.  In no particular order:

 

Johns Hopkins

Wash U

Emory

Pomona

Trinity U in S.A., TX

UT - Tyler...actually pretty unbelievable

NYU plays on a very nice minor league field on Coney Island.  But seems like quite a hassle to get to from campus and I wonder if anyone comes out to watch.

 

As nice as they are, they don't compare to most D1 facilities.  Also, I'd be interested in crowd turnout info at D3s.  Do students and others come out in decent numbers to support?  In playoff games at 6A Texas HS baseball games, we routinely get hundreds showing up so am wondering how much of a drop off we're looking at if our son goes to a D3 in terms of fan base/excitement.  Would love to hear from someone with direct experience. 

KW:

My son attended one of the schools on your list. Attendance mid-week 50-100; weekend 100-250. Attendance was driven by who they were playing and how well the other team traveled. When they were on the road; attendance figures did not change that much.

ILVBB, wow, that's actually much better than I would have expected.  Do you mind sharing where your son played?  Thanks!

Just did a quick look at Box Scores for the D3 my son will be attending as of two weeks from today.   Highest recorded attendance I saw 384 lowest 114.

These are all impressive numbers.  Much better than I thought.  Glad to hear it and congrats to your son!

 

KWT,

Once you get out of the SEC  and Big12, plus about 1/2 of the  ACC and Pac12, the attendance at D1 baseball games varies widely, with probably 50% of all D1's having attendance about the same as that  ILVBB has listed for Trinity University.  I just spent a few days on a trip with a group which included 3 former Ivy players.  Two of them played at Columbia before the recent success. Their description of fan numbers  at Ivy games was not much different than D3, and less when the weather was cold.

As one illustration on the D1 level, look at UC Irvine.  One of the top 25 programs nationally, but they probably average 300-400 people to their weekend games and less during the week, and they have a beautiful stadium.

 

 

 

Thanks, IFdad.  Makes sense.  We know a few current and former Ivy players and that's our understanding as well.  Not surprising.  Trinity U is our son's number one choice if he doesn't make it to D1.  Even if he does get a D1 offer, if it's not the right school/program, he'd probably still choose Trinity if he has an opportunity there.  He has a few HS teammates that just graduated and are going to be playing for Trinity.  Glad to hear all of these reports.  Makes me feel better and am sure will make him feel better about D3 baseball.

KWT,

Our son is a former Trinity player and assistant coach.  The school, the education, the experience and the baseball program can be a wonderful opportunity.

I think I see who your son is.  Thanks for sharing...glad to hear the positive feedback.  Congrats to your son on his career!  Bunch is who saw us at Stanford.

They don't seem to have a prospect camp so we're probably going to reach out to them and see if we can make a personal visit this fall.

KWT and etal:

 

If you are planning to visit Trinity or any school for that matter in the fall, I would recommend that you try to arrange it when they have their "Fall World Series". Many schools have these as a wrap up to their fall workouts and allow the coaching staff to get a good look at players prior to the start of the real season. Usually they are 5-7 games vs two teams built up from the roster. Trinity's is typically the second weekend before Thanksgiving.

 

Good Luck. 

Outstanding info, BOF...we will act on it...many thanks.  By the way, you wouldn't have been at the Stanford All Star II Camp in July would you?  We were there and may have bumped into you a time or two.

If you went 5  years ago.....

 

Wow how time fly's, enjoy every minute. 

 

Mine has done his 4 years of college and is now in graduate school. (and off the dole I might add....)

Haha ok...good stuff and congrats to your son and your family - especially re him being off the dole haha!  Take care.

KW:

 

I was at Stanford and I believe we talked.

ILVBB, if you used to umpire, split time between CA and AZ then you're my guy.  We would have chatted at Sunken at Sacred Heart.

That's me