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Melching Field at Conrad 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 ...
stadium located in DeLand, Florida
DeLand is a city in central Florida. It is the county seat of Volusia County. The city sits approximately north of the central business district of Orlando, and approximately west of the central business district of Daytona Beach. As of the 2020 ...
. The primary tenant of Melching Field is the Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
Hatters college baseball team, a Division I program playing in the ASUN Conference
The ASUN Conference, formerly the Atlantic Sun Conference, is a collegiate athletic conference operating mostly in the Southeastern United States. The league participates at the NCAA Division I level, and began sponsoring football at the Divisio ...
.
Features
Melching Field features 2,500 chair and benchback seats, with room for approximately 500 more spectators in a grass berm area along the first base foul line. The partially covered grandstand includes a large press box with two radio broadcast booths, a television broadcast booth, a media area, and twoluxury boxes
The luxury box (or skybox) and club seating constitute the most exclusive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of th ...
. The lower section of seating between the first and third base dugouts features chair back box seats, while the upper section features bench back seating. Underneath the grandstand, fans can find a full service concession area and restrooms.
Player amenities include home and visiting locker rooms
A changing-room, locker-room, (usually in a sports, theater, or staff context) or changeroom (regional use) is a room or area designated for changing one's clothes. Changing-rooms are provided in a semi-public situation to enable people to ch ...
, coaches offices and a covered batting cage area. The field itself features natural grass and symmetrical outfield dimensions. An electronic scoreboard is located beyond the left field fence.
History
The ballpark is named for R. Dale Melching, a Stetson alumnus and donor. Prior to the ballpark's opening in 1999, the previous home of the Stetson Hatters baseball team, Conrad Park, was located on the same site, with home plate then located where center field now exists in Melching Field. Conrad Park was the home ofspring training
Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...
games during the 1940s and 1950s as well as the home of the DeLand Red Hats of the Florida State League
The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...
.
Melching Field opened on February 12, 1999, where a crowd of 2,874 saw the Stetson Hatters defeat the University of Louisville
The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...
4–3. Since that time, over 250,000 fans have witnessed Hatters baseball at Melching Field, including 49,200 fans in 2005 (which was the 32nd highest attendance in all of 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 ...
baseball, despite the fact Stetson is a smaller school of less than 3,000 undergraduates.)
Secondary tenants
Besides Hatters baseball, Melching Field has also hosted a number ofAtlantic Sun Conference baseball tournament
The ASUN Conference baseball tournament, sometimes referred to simply as the ASUN Tournament, is the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I ASUN Conference. Before the ASUN expanded to 12 members in 2021 (2022 season), the top six ...
s (1989, 1991, 1993, 1996–97, 2002–09, 2012), along with high school and amateur tournaments. Several Daytona Cubs Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it.
Daytona may also refer to:
Locations
* Daytona Beach Shores, Florida
* South Daytona, Florida
* The Daytona Beach metropolitan area
* Halifax area, also known as Dayt ...
games in 2004 after the Cubs home ballpark, Jackie Robinson Ballpark
The Jackie Robinson Ballpark (also known as Jackie Robinson Stadium or City Island Ball Park) is a historic baseball field in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. It is located at 105 East Orange Avenue on City Island, in the Halifax River.
...
was damaged in Hurricane Charley
Hurricane Charley was the first of four separate hurricanes to impact or strike Florida during 2004, along with Hurricane Frances, Frances, Hurricane Ivan, Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, Jeanne, as well as one of the strongest hurricanes ever to ...
. Beginning in 2009, the field has hosted home games of the DeLand Suns
The Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) is a six-team wood bat collegiate summer baseball league located in the Central Florida region of the southeastern United States. The league was founded in the fall of 2003 and began play in the summe ...
, a collegiate summer baseball team and member of the Florida Collegiate Summer League
The Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) is a six-team wood bat collegiate summer baseball league located in the Central Florida region of the southeastern United States. The league was founded in the fall of 2003 and began play in the summe ...
.
In 2018, for the first time Melching Field hosted a Regional round in the NCAA Baseball tournament. The host team from Stetson University
Stetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I–4 corridor in Central Florida with the primary undergraduate campus in DeLand. The university was founded in 1883 and was later established in 1887 ...
ultimately won the round and advanced to its first-ever Super Regional round appearance.
See also
*List of NCAA Division I baseball venues
This is a list of stadiums that currently serve as the home venue for National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I college baseball teams. Conference affiliations reflect those in the coming 2023 NCAA baseball season. ...
References
External links
* http://www.deland.org/Pages/DeLandFL_Parks/Parks/Conrad * http://www.gohatters.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=14600&KEY=&ATCLID=714164&SPID=6736&SPSID=61810 {{coord, 29.019921, -81.302097, type:landmark, display=title Stetson Hatters baseball Baseball venues in Florida Sports venues in Volusia County, Florida DeLand, Florida 1999 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1999 College baseball venues in the United States