North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Baseball Prepares Bid for NCAA Regional
5/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BY TIM PEELER
That’s because, back in 2003, Doak Field was in the middle of its ground-up renovation and was not available to host the four-team NCAA event. So the school moved its operations 50 miles east to Fleming Stadium in
The Pack won all three games and advanced to play
But later this week, NC State will put the final touches on its third consecutive bid to bring a regional to the revamped Doak Field at
"[Athletics director Lee] Fowler has given a tremendous amount of assistance in preparing the operations and financial pieces to the bid so we can tie this thing together," said Dick Christy, assistant athletics director for external operations.
The NCAA requires a minimum bid of $50,000 to host a regional, but looks more favorably on bids between $75,000 to $90,000. This total is 75 percent of net receipts that the NCAA collects from all hosting schools.
But, unlike 2003, there are no major obstacles to overcome like not having a home field to play on.
“The last time there were so many operational hurdles that we had to deal with,” Christy said. “We had to put our staff up in hotels in
“Now, we have the kind of facility that the NCAA is looking for. We have chair-back seating, a loyal fanbase and a good product on the field. We have a beautiful park and playing surface, now we just need to finish strong on the field."
It is an involved project to prepare a hosting bid, but one that is becoming easier as NC State continues to host NCAA events, like the NCAA men's and women's basketball regionals the last two years at the RBC Center and the men's and women's College Cup at the SAS Soccer Park. And landing another baseball bid is another step in helping bring high-profile championship events to the Triangle.
"Being able to host serves as a reward for the the players for a successful season and puts the team in the best position to advance to a Super Regional and beyond," said Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent, whose team took two wins in a three-game series at Maryland this weekend.
From there, the Wolfpack would have a chance to end its 40-year drought of going to the College World Series, held annually at Rosenblatt Stadium in
Coming out of this weekend's series win over Maryland, No. 17 Wolfpack (35-16 overall, 17-9 ACC) remains strong in the national polls. More importantly, Avent’s team has an RPI ranking in the top 15 at www.warrennolan.com, www.boydsworld.com and in the official NCAA rankings.
But the Wolfpack has one last ACC series to play, beginning Thursday at Florida State. From there, the Pack will travel to the ACC Tournament from May 21-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.
“If we can take care of business over these next couple of weeks, we think we will have put ourselves in a good position to host,” Christy said. “And that’s exciting. For the last three years, we have continued to improve on the field. We have seen our season tickets double and triple in recent seasons. Our concessions and game-day operations have gotten better, and this would be a great reward to the fans who support us.
“Hosting a regional will give us the opportunity to put all of that on display, and it will be another step forward in getting us back to
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
