Founders Park, formerly known as Carolina Stadium, is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Columbia, South Carolina on the banks of the

Congaree River The Congaree River is a short but wide river in South Carolina in the United States; It flows for approximately 53 miles (85 km). The river serves an important role as the final outlet channel for the entire Lower Saluda and Lower Broad wate ...

. The facility was built for a cost of $35.6 million and is used for college baseball as home to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team.

Facility overview

The dimensions of the field are down the right and left-field lines and to dead center, matching those of Sarge Frye Field, the previous home stadium of the Gamecocks. The baseball training facilities at the stadium include four indoor batting tunnels, a weight room, team clubhouse, coaches' offices, and a sports medicine room. Among the numerous amenities for fans, there are five luxury suites and two club-level seating areas with lounges, a Gamecock store just inside the main entrance in the outfield plaza, along with a picnic terrace that accommodates around 120 people down the left-field line. The scoreboard towers over the left field wall and features a 28-by-16-foot video screen. The main stadium entrance to Founders Park is located at the northeast corner of the grounds directly behind the center-field wall. Following the 2010 national championship, USC had a mural applied to the backside of its center-field wall (to be viewed as visitors and fans enter onto stadium grounds), celebrating the 2010 CWS Title. In addition, a showcase was built at the base of the wall for the display of the 2010 CWS National Championship Trophy. The mural and trophy case have since been updated to honor both the

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2011 CWS Championship Teams. In 2013, the website ''Stadium Journey'' ranked Carolina Stadium as the second best Division I baseball venue, and received an average rating 4.6 of 5 stars in 7 categories. In 2014, the website ''Stadium Journey'' ranked Carolina Stadium as the best Division I baseball venue, and received an average rating 4.7 of 5 stars in 7 categories. In 2015, the facility name was officially changed from Carolina Stadium to Founders Park, becoming only the third college baseball stadium in the United States to earn a corporate sponsorship.

History

The stadium was opened on February 21, 2009, with a 13–0 South Carolina victory over Duquesne with 8,153 fans in attendance, a record crowd for a Gamecock home game. The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by USC President Dr. Harris Pastides and former Gamecock baseball coaches Bobby Richardson and

June Raines June is the sixth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the second of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the third of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. June contains the summer solstice in t ...

. Darius Rucker, former lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish and USC alumnus, sang the National Anthem. On May 21, 2010, a stadium record crowd of 8,242 attended a game against Florida; the record has been equaled many times since. The highest attendance for a three-game weekend series (24,726) was set from April 15–17, 2011, as the Gamecocks hosted #1 Vanderbilt and won the series two games to one.

Tournaments Hosted

NCAA Regional Tournaments : 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021 NCAA Super Regional Tournaments : 2011, 2012, 2016, 2021

Key dates

South Carolina Gamecocks' Record in Founders Park (2009–Present)

*Totals only reflect completed seasons

References

External links

Article on new ballparkCarolina Stadium Fact Sheet from The State newspaper
{{coord, 33, 59, 12, N, 81, 2, 38, W, type:landmark, display=title South Carolina Gamecocks South Carolina Gamecocks baseball South Carolina Gamecocks sports venues Baseball venues in South Carolina College baseball venues in the United States Sports venues completed in 2007 Populous (company) buildings