In Progress: Oklahoma State’s New Stadium to Reward Good Baseball

Oklahoma State baseball coach Josh Holliday wants to reward good baseball with the Oklahoma State University Baseball Stadium, which is set to open Spring of 2020. Architect Jim Hasenbeck helped with that vision, which was described vividly.

Holliday said the field was the first aspect to receive attention when the designing process began. Holliday said he wants to reward good pitching with dimensions that will allow players to pitch successfully to certain parts of the field. He added he wants to reward good hitting, so a well-hit ball has a chance to go out of the park.

“We wanted to build dimensions that would prepare our team for the unique setting of the College World Series to play in,” Holliday said. “TD Ameritrade Field is a very big ballpark. The style of play in that stadium is very unique. There are no wind-blown home runs. There are no fly balls to the middle of the field that return much of a reward on offense.”

Holliday said the stadium is designed to keep the ball fair to left field so the south wind doesn’t turn fly balls into home runs, while creating a spacious area in center field to allow for excellent defense and timely hitting. He also said he wanted to create a spot in right field for a really good lefty to come in and do some damage.

The new home of Cowboy Baseball.

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“I think we built a balanced field, which is what the College World Series is built on,” Holliday said. “We definitely put some of our own dimensions to it to fit Stillwater, to fit our wind and to kinda make sure the ballpark plays good.”