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Coordinates: 33°27′46″N 88°47′40″W / 33.4628°N 88.7944°W / 33.4628; -88.7944
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'''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 [[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 15,586. It is known for the [[Left Field Lounge]].
'''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 [[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 15,586. It is known for the [[Left Field Lounge]].
Racist Slurs Were Allegedly Hurled At College World Series is this the school that I sent my eldest son?


==History==
==History==

Revision as of 21:07, 30 June 2021

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°27′46″N 88°47′40″W / 33.4628°N 88.7944°W / 33.4628; -88.7944
TypeStadium
Genre(s)Baseball
Executive suites3
Capacity≈15,000 [1]
Record attendance15,586 (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
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/

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 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 15,586. It is known for the Left Field Lounge. Racist Slurs Were Allegedly Hurled At College World Series is this the school that I sent my eldest son?

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 scheduled to be completed by the 2019 season. The 2018 season will be played at 3/4 capacity as the upper level will not be complete. The new management has announced plans to expand the exits to help accommodate fans leaving the ballpark early.

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), two NCAA District III tournaments (1973 and 1974), 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 15,586 and the largest SEC crowd for a 3-game weekend regular season series at 39,181. 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 3 game series of 40,140.[6][7]

Mississippi State has 18 of the top 19 on-campus crowds in the history of college baseball. Overall, DNF-PDS has held 22 crowds over 12,000 and 58 crowds over 10,000.

In 2013, the Bulldogs ranked 4th among Division I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 7,617 per home game.[8]

In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the stadium as the best big game atmosphere in Division I baseball.[9]

Top baseball crowds at DNF-PDS

Rank Attendance Opponent Date Record broken
1 15,586 Ole Miss April 12, 2014 NCAA on-campus record
2 15,078 Texas A&M April 16, 2016 #2 NCAA on-campus record
3 14,991 Florida April 22, 1989 #3 NCAA on-campus record
4 14,562 Auburn April 20, 2013 #4 NCAA on-campus record
5 14,385 Notre Dame June 12, 2021 #5 NCAA on-campus record
NCAA Super Regional single-game record
6 14,378 Louisiana State April 16, 1988 #6 NCAA on-campus record
7 13,971 Notre Dame June 13, 2021 #7 on-campus record
#2 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
8 13,761 Arkansas April 25, 1992 #8 NCAA on-campus record
9 13,715 Clemson June 9, 2007 #10 NCAA on-campus record
#3 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
10 13,691 Kentucky April 8, 2017 #11 NCAA on-campus record
11 13,617 Georgia April 8, 2006 #12 NCAA on-campus record
12 13,452 Arizona June 11, 2016 #13 NCAA on-campus record
#4 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
13 13,338 Ole Miss April 17, 2021 #14 NCAA on-campus record
14 13,224 Ole Miss April 11, 2014 #15 NCAA on-campus record
15 13,132 Stanford June 8, 2019 #16 NCAA on-campus record
#5 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
16 13,123 Ole Miss April 15, 2000 #17 NCAA on-campus record
17 13,004 Florida April 18, 2005 #18 NCAA on-campus record
18 12,708 Arizona June 10, 2016 #19 NCAA on-campus record
#6 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
19 12,708 Auburn April 24, 1993 #22 NCAA on-campus record
20 12,620 Clemson June 8, 2007 #23 NCAA on-campus record
#7 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
21 12,360 Georgia April 6, 2002
22 12,343 Auburn March 23, 2019
23 11,763 Auburn April 12, 2003
24 11,754 Notre Dame June 14, 2021
25 11,648 LSU March 30, 2019
26 11,515 Ole Miss April 2, 2016
27 11,597 Stanford June 9, 2019
28 11,511 Central Michigan June 1, 2019
29 11,496 Florida State May 27, 1990
30 11,262 LSU March 29, 2019
31 11,201 Florida April 9, 2011
32 11,174 Florida April 13, 1991
33 11,127 South Alabama May 26, 2000
34 11,124 South Alabama June 1, 2013
35 11,112 Alabama April 13, 2019
36 11,102 Central Arkansas May 31, 2013
37 11,089 Tennessee April 17, 2010
38 10,958 Auburn April 9, 2005
39 10,832 Notre Dame May 28, 2000
40 10,688 Washington May 25, 1997
41 10,656 Cal State Fullerton June 5, 2016
42 10,619 Florida April 17, 2004
43 10,588 North Carolina May 28, 1989
44 10,555 Kentucky April 18, 2009
45 10,461 South Carolina May 18, 2019
46 10,386 Alabama April 12, 2019
47 10,382 Florida April 25, 1987
48 10,371 Ole Miss April 13, 2014
49 10,351 Tennessee April 21, 2012
50 10,324 Kentucky March 31, 2007
51 10,284 Middle Tennessee St. May 30, 2003
52 10,226 Central Arkansas June 2, 2013
53 10,217 Texas Tech February 17, 2017
54 10,164 Ole Miss April 3, 2016
55 10,152 Ole Miss April 1, 2016
56 10,143 Auburn April 19, 2013
57 10,064 Vanderbilt March 22, 2014
58 10,029 Auburn March 22, 2019

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ "Take Me Out to the Ballpark". Mississippi State University University Libraries. Mississippi State University. Retrieved December 31, 2019.
  3. ^ http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=206654961
  4. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/sioncampus/09/24/100_things0930/index.html
  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. ^ Cutler, Tami (June 11, 2013). "2013 Division I Baseball Attendance - Final Report" (PDF). Sportswriters.net. NCBWA. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 28, 2014. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
  9. ^ 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.