HATTIESBURG — Southern Miss on Tuesday announced a plan to renovate the 42-year-old home of its nationally renowned baseball program, the only Division I program in the U.S. to boast 10 straight 40-victory seasons and 10 straight NCAA Tournament bids.
The school plans to raise approximately $25 million through private and corporate funding to complete a renovation and expansion of Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field.
“Pete Taylor Park represents so much of what makes Southern Miss baseball special,” said Southern Miss Director of Athletics Jeremy McClain. “The history, the atmosphere and, most importantly, our fans have created an environment unlike any other. This project allows us to honor those traditions while making a significant investment in what comes next for our program.”
Jackson-based Weir Boerner Allin Architecture, which has designed numerous athletic facilities across the South including Dudy Noble Field at Mississippi State, partnered with Southern Miss to do master planning for the project. Seating capacity would increase to approximately 6,500. The largest crowd to date was 6,346, which included more than 2,000 standing room only. Southern Miss has sold out its season tickets of approximately 4,600 tickets for four straight seasons.
A planned renovation of Pete Taylor Park at Southern Miss would include this seating down the first base line. Credit: Courtesy of Southern Miss AthleticsThe proposed stadium renovation would include all chairback seating and the addition of eight more luxury suites to the existing 12. Said McClain, “We wish we had room for 20 more suites because we could sell that many more.”
The master plan includes an indoor pitching laboratory and hitting facility with high-tech sports science equipment to improve performance. Southern Miss coach Chrisian Ostrander, who has guided the Golden Eagles to 143 victories over three seasons called the proposed performance center “a game changer for player development, the backbone our our program.”
Southern Miss is calling the baseball stadium project “Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow, ” McClain said.
“The vision is not to change what makes The Pete special. It is to build around it,” he said. “We want our longtime fans to walk into the renovated ballpark and still feel everything they love about Southern Miss baseball, while the next generation of Golden Eagles experience a facility built for the future.”
McClain said he is confident Southern Miss can raise the money.
“We’ve had several preliminary meetings with potential donors,” he said. “We’ve confident we can get to the finish line soon and move forward with the project. Our baseball program is nationally competitive and we want to continue to invest in its future.”
Fund-raising will include naming rights to the performance center, as well as different enhanced seating areas in the ballpark, McClain said. Already this year, Renasant Bank bought the naming rights to the former M.M. Roberts Stadium in a deal that will pay the university $13.7 million over 10 years.
The birds-eye view of the proposed renovation of Pete Taylor Park. Credit: Courtesy of Southern Miss AthleticsHence then, the article about southern miss plans 25 million renovation and expansion of 42 year old pete taylor baseball park was published today ( ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
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