Robin Baggett Stadium 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 Venue is the location at which an event takes place. It may refer to: Locations * Venue (law), the place a case is heard * Financial trading venue, a place or system where financial transactions can occur * Music venue, place used for a concer ...

located on the campus of

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

, United States. It is home to the

Cal Poly Mustangs baseball The Cal Poly Mustangs baseball team represents California Polytechnic State University, which is located in San Luis Obispo, California. The Mustangs are an NCAA Division I college baseball program, and along with the other Cal Poly athletic t ...

team, a member of the Division I

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

. The stadium is named for Robin Baggett, a former

player at Cal Poly.Baggett Stadium
at digitalcommons.calpoly.edu, URL accessed December 21, 2009
Archived
21, 2009

History

Construction and first 15 years

The stadium opened on January 21, 2001, with the Mustangs defeating #11-ranked

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

6–5 in 12 innings in front of a crowd of 3,110 fans. The stadium originally had a usual, day-to-day capacity of 1,734 before later expansion, and is part of an encompassing Upper Sports Complex which is also home to the Mustang

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 ...

team.Baggett Stadium
at gopoly.com, URL accessed December 12, 2009
Archived
21, 2009 Originally, the park's dimensions were 337 feet down the lines, 387 feet in the power alleys and 407 feet to center, with 12-foot fences. In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the field as the fifth-best setting in Division I baseball.

Hosting 2014 NCAA Regional

In 2014, Cal Poly hosted its first-ever NCAA Tournament Division I Baseball Regional. The regional featured Cal Poly as the #1 seed along with

Arizona State Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

Pepperdine Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and ...

and

Sacramento State California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

. At the time, the stadium was expandable with additional temporary bleachers to a capacity of 3,042. In a matter of minutes after going on sale, Cal Poly quickly sold out its first game of the regional against Sacramento State. Actual attendance peaked Saturday night at 2,941 with Cal Poly's second game despite all 3,042 tickets being sold out.

Attendance records

* The record attendance for a 3-game regular-season series is 8,585 vs. Cal State Fullerton from May 6–8, 2005. * The May 6, 2005 series opener against CSF also is the single-game record, with a then-standing-room-only crowd of 3,284 in attendance for the Friday night matchup; some 200 fans were forced to be turned away from the game against the defending national champion Titans, although almost a hundred spectators watched from a nearby hill. * During the 2014 NCAA Regional, Cal Poly tore more than 15,000 total tickets at the stadium.

Expansions

In November 2012, a 6,000-square-foot lighted hitting area was completed for roughly $300,000, with retractable netting allowing for three long cages alongside three short cages. In 2018, the university began an $8 million enhancement project at Baggett Stadium. The project included a two-story, 10,000-square-foot clubhouse complete with a lounge and kitchen, meeting and study space, locker room, training room, offices, and a therapeutic cold plunge pool. The previously existing clubhouse, which had stood for 17 years, was demolished on June 11, 2018 by the project's contractor, Exbon Development of

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

. In addition, new permanent seating and backstop safety netting was installed by the start of the 2018 season, raising the capacity to 3,138. Announced February 13, 2019, a new

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

videoboard ranging 36 feet by 20.4 feet was added, with 1,080-by-612 pixel resolution LED lighting. As part of the almost overall $10 million project, the

Dignity Health Dignity Health (formerly Catholic Healthcare West) was a California-based not-for-profit public-benefit corporation that operates hospitals and ancillary care facilities in three states. Dignity Health was the fifth-largest hospital system in th ...

Baseball Clubhouse was completed in August 2020. Additionally, a $1 million Hoffman Press Box, which provided seating for 20 event staff employees and media members, was completed in April 2021, including two tiered rows of seats, electrical and internet upgrades, and improved sight lines. In 2022, Cal Poly ranked 38th in the nation in average home attendance, drawing 1,905 fans per game to Baggett Stadium. On March 25, 2023, Hall of Fame shortstop

Ozzie Smith Osborne Earl Smith (born December 26, 1954) is an American former professional baseball player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Oz", Smith played shortstop for the San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball, winning the National ...

returned to the stadium, as his statue (relocated and upgraded as part of the complex entrance's remodeling) was re-dedicated; the surrounding walkways are now part of Ozzie Smith Plaza. File:HoffmanPressBoxAtCalPolyBaggettStadiumApril2023.jpg, The new Hoffman Press Box at Cal Poly's Baggett Stadium was dedicated in May 2021. File:CalPolyBaggettStadiumWallLogoApril2023.jpg, The commemorative Baggett Stadium logo is shown in April 2023. File:BaggettStadiumApril2023onCalPolyCampus.jpg, Robin Baggett Stadium, home to the Cal Poly baseball team, is pictured in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in April 2023. File:SunsetAtBaggettStadiumSanLuisObispoApril2023.jpg, Bishop Peak in San Luis Obispo is visible behind the right-field stands of Cal Poly's Baggett Stadium. File:OzzieSmithPlazaMarch2023atCalPolyBaggettStadium.jpg, Ozzie Smith Plaza at the entrance to Cal Poly's Baggett Stadium was dedicated during a Mustang baseball series in San Luis Obispo, Calif., in 2023.

References