New Stadium Dazzles in Debut
February 26, 2011 | Baseball
Tony Allen
USF Athletic Communications
It was an electric atmosphere Friday night as USF unveiled its new USF Baseball Stadium to the public.
A record 3,126 fans came out to support the team and help usher in a new era for the program. Also in attendance were 34 former Bulls players, each of whom threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
Photo Gallery of Opening Night
"It's amazing," said major-leaguer and former USF great Ross Gload. "I saw it in early December and knew it was going to be something special, but it's more than probably most people dreamed about. It's what we talked about 15 years ago when I was deciding to come here."
Things were much different when Gload was staring for the Bulls in the mid-nineties. While the team won two regular season conference titles during his tenure, they weren't playing in the BIG EAST and didn't have a premiere park to showcase their talent.
"Recruiting is a huge thing," said Gload. "People want to play baseball in the warm weather. I was from New York and I came down and saw the Red (McEwen) and I thought it was the best field I had ever seen. But now you see this and there are a couple thousand people here having fun. Obviously, Lelo's putting a good team on the field and I think they're only going to get better."
USF fed off the energy of the crowd early on in the game, but eventually ran out of steam and gave up a 3-0 lead to Elon in the eighth, resulting in a 4-3 loss in extras. The night may have been bittersweet for Coach Lelo Prado but seeing the record-amount of fans in the new chairback seats was one thing he could smile about.
"We've got a great student body and the community came out," said Prado. "The atmosphere that was here (tonight) is what I'm looking for."
Junior shortstop Sam Mende broke the stadium in with a two-run homer in his first at-bat, giving him the first-ever homerun at the new park. He couldn't believe how incredible the support of the fans was.
"The national anthem was what got me toward the end when they all yelled Bulls in the stands," said Mende. "I had the chills going into it and then right when they yelled that, it was one of the loudest crowds I've heard here."
Games should only get better at the stadium, as fans still have not witnessed every feature that it has to offer.
Once it is fully operable, USF will have the largest scoreboard in all of college baseball at 25-by-50 feet. There will also be the special section dedicated to the history of USF baseball among other new features. USF now has all the tools to showcase itself as a baseball program to be reckoned with.
"The jumbotron (wasn't) working tonight, but obviously you can tell it's going to be something else," said former player Jason Garcia, who was with the Bulls from 1992-1994. "Just the design of the whole stadium, when you get crowds like this. As a player, that fires you up and can definitely make a difference."
USF Athletic Communications
It was an electric atmosphere Friday night as USF unveiled its new USF Baseball Stadium to the public.
A record 3,126 fans came out to support the team and help usher in a new era for the program. Also in attendance were 34 former Bulls players, each of whom threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
Photo Gallery of Opening Night
"It's amazing," said major-leaguer and former USF great Ross Gload. "I saw it in early December and knew it was going to be something special, but it's more than probably most people dreamed about. It's what we talked about 15 years ago when I was deciding to come here."
Things were much different when Gload was staring for the Bulls in the mid-nineties. While the team won two regular season conference titles during his tenure, they weren't playing in the BIG EAST and didn't have a premiere park to showcase their talent.
"Recruiting is a huge thing," said Gload. "People want to play baseball in the warm weather. I was from New York and I came down and saw the Red (McEwen) and I thought it was the best field I had ever seen. But now you see this and there are a couple thousand people here having fun. Obviously, Lelo's putting a good team on the field and I think they're only going to get better."
USF fed off the energy of the crowd early on in the game, but eventually ran out of steam and gave up a 3-0 lead to Elon in the eighth, resulting in a 4-3 loss in extras. The night may have been bittersweet for Coach Lelo Prado but seeing the record-amount of fans in the new chairback seats was one thing he could smile about.
"We've got a great student body and the community came out," said Prado. "The atmosphere that was here (tonight) is what I'm looking for."
Junior shortstop Sam Mende broke the stadium in with a two-run homer in his first at-bat, giving him the first-ever homerun at the new park. He couldn't believe how incredible the support of the fans was.
"The national anthem was what got me toward the end when they all yelled Bulls in the stands," said Mende. "I had the chills going into it and then right when they yelled that, it was one of the loudest crowds I've heard here."
Games should only get better at the stadium, as fans still have not witnessed every feature that it has to offer.
Once it is fully operable, USF will have the largest scoreboard in all of college baseball at 25-by-50 feet. There will also be the special section dedicated to the history of USF baseball among other new features. USF now has all the tools to showcase itself as a baseball program to be reckoned with.
"The jumbotron (wasn't) working tonight, but obviously you can tell it's going to be something else," said former player Jason Garcia, who was with the Bulls from 1992-1994. "Just the design of the whole stadium, when you get crowds like this. As a player, that fires you up and can definitely make a difference."
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