Dudy Noble Tops List of Best Venues

(J. Mark Reed)

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI Sports/MSU Athletics) – Mississippi State’s Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium tops the latest ranking of college baseball facilities as compiled by Paul Swaney for StadiumJourney.com.

“Make this the first stop on your college baseball bucket list for 2014,” said Swaney in summing up his review of the home of MSU’s Diamond Dogs.

Dudy Noble Field nudged out South Carolina’s Carolina Stadium and Arkansas’ Baum Stadium for top honors. The top three college baseball venues and five of the top 10 in StadiumJourney.com’s just-released ranking are from the Southeastern Conference.

Mississippi State hosted a school-record five crowds of 10,000 or better in 2013 en route to record-setting totals in average (8,130) and total (308,967) attendance. The Bulldogs concluded their 2013 campaign with a run to the College World Series Championship Series in Omaha, Neb., and with post-season totals eclipsed the half-million mark (547,266) in total overall attendance in 2013.

Coach John Cohen’s fifth MSU baseball edition compiled a 51-20 worksheet and attained the program’s highest final national ranking (No. 2) and NCAA finish (national runner-up) in 2013.