Barbara and I visited the Carolina Stadium Open House last night.This is the beautiful NEW home of The University of South Carolina baseball team. It is acknowledged to be one of the top college baseball stadiums in the United States. During our visit, we had complete access to everything in the new stadium, even Coach Ray Tanner's office! USC officials estimated 4,000 fans attended the open house last night.
We were very impressed with the new stadium. It is located adjacent to the Congaree River and the Blossom Street Bridge. The new ballpark cost $35.6 million. The permanent seating capacity is 6,400 with total capacity of approximately 9,000 including outfield bleachers, picnic area and standing room only.
There are many neat features in the new Carolina baseball park: Beautiful views of downtown Columbia; Wide concourse around entire stadium; A state-of-the-art video scoreboard will stand 86 feet above the field - The scoreboard is 47 feet high and 44 feet wide, with a video board that is 16-by-28 feet; A 3,900-square-foot weight room; Four indoor batting practice tunnels and much more.
South Carolina plays in the Southeastern Conference - the best conference in college baseball. 
The 2009 season starts February 21st with the first game in the new Carolina Stadium. South Carolina finished 40-23 last year. South Carolina has one of the very best college baseball coaches in Ray Tanner. Last year's attendance for South Carolina baseball finished #6 in the entire country for average attendance (4,758) and #7 for overall attendance (161,761).
The 2009 season starts February 21st with the first game in the new Carolina Stadium. South Carolina finished 40-23 last year. South Carolina has one of the very best college baseball coaches in Ray Tanner. Last year's attendance for South Carolina baseball finished #6 in the entire country for average attendance (4,758) and #7 for overall attendance (161,761).South Carolina is one of only five schools in the nation to have made seven NCAA Super Regional appearances over the last nine years (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007). In the previous nine seasons, Carolina owns the fifth highest total of wins in the country (428) and has won more SEC games than any team in the league (162). In addition, the Gamecocks have made nine consecutive postseason appearances, the longest current streak among the 12 SEC schools. South Carolina also has three College World Series trips (2002, 2003, 2004), two SEC championships (2000, 2002) and one SEC tournament title (2004) in that span.
Go Gamecocks!
Mel Coker
1 comment:
Mel:
I'm a 2001 doctoral graduate of Carolina, and am looking to sell a baseball from the 2000 season signed by a student player of mine while I was TA'ing there.
The names include:
Kip Bouknight
Matt Wilson
John Wesley
Bryon Jeffcoat
Matt Riddle
Jim Meyers
and numerous others!
If you know of anyone interested in this collectible ball, email me--phil.golson@gmail.com with my thanks!
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