Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium

Polk-DeMent Stadium
Full name	Dudy Noble Field at Polk–Dement Stadium
Location	145 Lakeview Drive, Starkville, MS, United States
Owner	Mississippi State University
Operator	Mississippi State University
Capacity	13,000 (seats starting in 2019)[1]
Record attendance	15,586 (current NCAA on-campus record)
Field size	LF: 330, LC: 376, CF: 390, RC: 374, RF: 326
Surface	Tiflawn & Tifway II Bermuda Grass
Tenants
	Mississippi State Bulldogs (1967–present)

Dudy Noble Field at Polk-Dement Stadium is a baseball facility on the campus of Mississippi State University and is the home of the 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.

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 Left Field Lounge

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), 13 NCAA Regional tournaments (1979, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2013 and 2016), and Super Regionals in 2007 and 2016.

Attendance

SEC 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 series at 39,181. In 2007 versus the Clemson Tigers, MSU had the NCAA's top two all-time highest attended Super Regional games with 12,620 and 13,715 fans.

Mississippi State has all of the top 11 on-campus crowds in the history of college baseball. Overall, DNF-PDS has held 12 crowds over 12,000 and 35 crowds over 10,000.

In 2013, the Bulldogs ranked 4th among Division I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 7,617 per home game.^[6]

In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the stadium as the best big game atmosphere in Division I baseball.^[7]

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	14,378	Louisiana State	April 16, 1988	#5 NCAA on-campus record
6	13,761	Arkansas	April 25, 1992	#6 NCAA on-campus record
7	13,715	Clemson	June 9, 2007	#7 NCAA on-campus record NCAA Super Regional single-game record
8	13,691	Kentucky	April 8, 2017	#8 NCAA on-campus record
9	13,617	Georgia	April 8, 2006	#9 NCAA on-campus record
10	13,452	Arizona	June 11, 2016	#10 NCAA on-campus record #2 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
11	13,224	Ole Miss	April 11, 2014	#11 NCAA on-campus record
12	13,123	Ole Miss	April 15, 2000	#12 NCAA on-campus record
13	13,004	Florida	April 18, 2005	#13 NCAA on-campus record
14	12,708	Arizona	June 10, 2016	#14 NCAA on-campus record #3 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
15	12,708	Auburn	April 24, 1993	#15 NCAA on-campus record
16	12,620	Clemson	June 8, 2007	#16 NCAA on-campus record #4 NCAA Super Regional single-game record
17	12,360	Georgia	April 6, 2002	#19 NCAA on-campus record
18	11,763	Auburn	April 12, 2003
19	11,515	Ole Miss	April 2, 2016
20	11,496	Florida State	May 27, 1990
21	11,201	Florida	April 9, 2011
22	11,174	Florida	April 13, 1991
23	11,127	South Alabama	May 26, 2000
24	11,124	South Alabama	June 1, 2013
25	11,102	Central Arkansas	May 31, 2013
26	11,089	Tennessee	April 17, 2010
27	10,958	Auburn	April 9, 2005
28	10,832	Notre Dame	May 28, 2000
29	10,688	Washington	May 25, 1997
30	10,656	Cal State Fullerton	June 5, 2016
31	10,619	Florida	April 17, 2004
32	10,588	North Carolina	May 28, 1989
33	10,555	Kentucky	April 18, 2009
34	10,382	Florida	April 25, 1987
35	10,371	Ole Miss	April 13, 2014
36	10,351	Tennessee	April 21, 2012
37	10,324	Kentucky	March 31, 2007
38	10,284	Middle Tennessee St.	May 30, 2003
39	10,226	Central Arkansas	June 2, 2013
40	10,217	Texas Tech	February 17, 2017
41	10,164	Ole Miss	April 3, 2016
42	10,152	Ole Miss	April 1, 2016
43	10,143	Auburn	April 19, 2013
44	10,064	Vanderbilt	March 22, 2014

References

↑ Dudy Noble Field Renovations are on Schedule
↑
↑ http://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=206654961
↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/sioncampus/09/24/100_things0930/index.html
↑ http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=365161852&o=int&prev=si&pg=seo&p=61
↑ Cutler, Tami (June 11, 2013). "2013 Division I Baseball Attendance - Final Report" (PDF). Sportswriters.net. NCBWA. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013.
↑ Sorenson, Eric (5 October 2012). "Distiller's Dozen - The "Hey, Nice Stadium" Edition". CollegeBaseballToday.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.

External links

Coordinates: 33°27′46″N 88°47′40″W / 33.46278°N 88.79444°W / 33.46278; -88.79444

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[capacity-1] Dudy Noble Field Renovations are on Schedule

[2] ↑

[3] ttp://www.hailstate.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=16800&ATCLID=206654961

[4] ttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/sioncampus/09/24/100_things0930/index.html

[5] ttp://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=365161852&o=int&prev=si&pg=seo&p=61

[13att-6] Cutler, Tami (June 11, 2013). "2013 Division I Baseball Attendance - Final Report" (PDF). Sportswriters.net. NCBWA. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2013. Retrieved July 20, 2013.

[stad_ranks-7] Sorenson, Eric (5 October 2012). "Distiller's Dozen - The "Hey, Nice Stadium" Edition". CollegeBaseballToday.com. Archived from the original on 15 December 2012. Retrieved 14 December 2012.

Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball
Venues	Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium (1967–present)
Rivalries	Ole Miss
Culture & lore	Left Field Lounge
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
College World Series appearances in italics

Baseball parks of the Southeastern Conference
Eastern Division	McKethan Stadium (Florida) Foley Field (Georgia) Cliff Hagan Stadium (Kentucky) Taylor Stadium (Missouri) Founders Park (South Carolina) Lindsey Nelson Stadium (Tennessee) Hawkins Field (Vanderbilt)
Western Division	Sewell–Thomas Stadium (Alabama) Baum Stadium (Arkansas) Plainsman Park (Auburn) Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field (LSU) Dudy Noble Field (Mississippi State) Swayze Field (Ole Miss) Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park (Texas A&M)

NCAA Division I college baseball venues in Mississippi
C-USA	Pete Taylor Park (Southern Miss)
SEC	Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium (Mississippi State) Swayze Field (Ole Miss)
SWAC	Foster Baseball Field at McGowan Stadium (Alcorn State) Braddy Field (Jackson State) Magnolia Field (Mississippi Valley State)