Carolina Stadium

Carolina Stadium is a stadium in Columbia, South Carolina on the banks of the Congaree River. The facility was built for a cost of $35.6 million and is used for college baseball as home to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team. In three seasons in the ballpark, the Gamecocks have a home record of 87-19 and have played the majority of games in front of Standing Room Only crowds.

The stadium was opened on February 21, 2009, with a 13-0 South Carolina victory over Duquesne with 8,153 fans in attendance, a record crowd for a Gamecock home game. The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by USC President, Dr. Harris Pastides, and former Gamecock baseball coaches Bobby Richardson and June Raines. Darius Rucker, former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish and USC alumnus, sang the National Anthem.

The dimensions of the field are 325 feet (99 m) down the right and left-field lines and 390 feet (120 m) to dead center, matching those of Sarge Frye Field, the previous home stadium of the Gamecocks. The baseball training facilities at the stadium include four indoor batting tunnels, a 3,900-square-foot (360 m²) weight room, team clubhouse, coaches offices, and a sports medicine room. Among the numerous amenities for fans, there are five luxury suites and two club-level seating areas with lounges, a Gamecock store just inside the main entrance in the outfield plaza, along with a picnic terrace that accommodates around 120 people down the left-field line. The scoreboard towers 86 feet (26 m) over the left field wall and features a 28-by-16 foot video screen.

On May 21, 2010, a stadium record crowd of 8,242 attended a game against Florida, the record has been equalled many times since. The highest attendance for a three-game weekend series (24,726) was set from April 15 - 17, 2011, as the Gamecocks hosted #1 Vanderbilt and won the series two games to one. In 2011, the Gamecocks ranked third in Division I baseball in attendance, averaging 7,431 per game.^[1]

South Carolina Record in Carolina Stadium (2009-Present)

Tournaments Hosted

NCAA Regional Tournaments : 2010, 2011
NCAA Super Regional Tournaments : 2011

References

1. ^ Tami Cutler. "2011 Division I Baseball Attendance". Archived from the original on 12-20-11. http://www.webcitation.org/644cLUIuP. Retrieved December 20, 2011. 

External links

• Article on new ballpark
• USC thrills big crowd with overwhelming win
• Carolina Stadium Fact Sheet from The State newspaper