Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

venue in Harrisonburg, Virginia,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is home to the

James Madison Dukes baseball Founded in 1970, the James Madison baseball program played at Long Field at Mauck Stadium through the end of the 2009 season. In 2010 they opened play at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park, the school's new baseball and softball complex. The "D ...

team of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I

Colonial Athletic Association The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I whose full members are located in East Coast states from Massachusetts to South Carolina. Most of its members are public universi ...

. James Madison University joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. The Harrisonburg Turks of the collegiate summer

Valley Baseball League The Valley Baseball League is an NCAA and MLB-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. The league was started in 1923 and sanctioned by the NCAA in 1961. It has been a wooden bat league since 199 ...

also use the field, which opened in March 2010 and has a capacity of 1,200 spectators.

History

The location of Eagle Field has been used for baseball since the 1940s. In 1948, its predecessor was dedicated Veterans Memorial Park in honor of Harrisonburg-area veterans who died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The

's Harrisonburg Turks used the previous field through the end of the 2008 season, when construction began on the current facility. Construction on the current, $9 million facility took place from 2008 until it opened in March 2010. On March 17, 2010, 1,815 spectators attended a James Madison game against

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to set the facility's attendance record.

Features

The field's features include an AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D surface,

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

s, and dugouts. A net lines the infield portion of foul territory to protect spectators from foul balls. In addition, the facility includes chairback seats, a

press box The press box is a special section of a sports stadium or arena that is set up for the media to report about a given event. It is typically located in the section of the stadium holding the luxury box and can be either enclosed or open to the e ...

, restrooms, concessions, landscaping, and plaques in honor of the Dukes' postseason accomplishments. A monument commemorating war veterans from Rockingham County was dedicated in fall 2009 and stands at the entrance to the facility. The university's

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

facility, also a part of the Veterans Memorial Park complex, is next to Eagle Field. Offices, indoor workout facilities, and

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...

s for the team are housed in Memorial Hall, also located near the field.

Events

On July 11, 2011, the venue hosted the Mid-Atlantic Classic, an exhibition game played between the All-Star teams of the collegiate summer

and Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League. In July 2014, it will host the Valley League All-Star Game. The field also hosted the CAA Tournament in 2012. One-seed

UNC Wilmington The University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW or UNC Wilmington) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina System and enrolls 17,499 undergraduate and graduate students eac ...

won the tournament.

References

{{Virginia NCAA Division I college baseball venue navbox College baseball venues in the United States Baseball venues in Virginia James Madison Dukes baseball Buildings and structures in Harrisonburg, Virginia 2010 establishments in Virginia Sports venues completed in 2010

History

Features

Events

See also

References