Adrian College and the NCAA have announced that Adrian College will host the 2018 NCAA Division III Baseball Mideast Regional for a second time. The event was announced this week. Visiting schools will begin play at Nicolay Field on Thursday and will remain until Monday, May 17-21, for competition. The following was released by the school:
“Adrian College is honored to once again host an NCAA Championship on our beautiful campus. My staff looks forward to working with the National Office to put on national-level events while showcasing our terrific athletic facilities,” Adrian director of athletics Michael Duffy said. “We have been fortunate that the Lenawee County community supports these high-profile events, and our local business partners welcome the increased traffic that visitors bring to inject the local economy. As we have done in past opportunities, our goal is as always to provide the student-athletes with a superb experience at this important NCAA event.”
Nicolay Field was the site of the NCAA Mideast Regional in 2009, just one year after the new facility was dedicated and opened for play. Its state-of-the-art amenities include a field completely covered in field turf by ProGrass, an inning-by-inning scoreboard, an underground drainage system, professional-caliber dugouts, bullpens and batting cages. The facility also has grandstand chairback seating on top of the dugouts for a capacity of 300, a heated press box facility for media and broadcasters, lighting for night games, locker rooms, a training room, restrooms and a concession stand. The press box is dedicated in the honor of Frank and Shirley Dick, longtime supporters of the College.
Nicolay Field is named in honor of Bud and Betty Nicolay, whose generous contributions helped build the estimated $1 million project. The stadium groundbreaking ceremony took place in September 2007 and special guest speaker Ernie Harwell, Hall of Fame baseball broadcaster with the Detroit Tigers, delivered the keynote address about what a great thing was being done for future generations of baseball players at Adrian College. The Bulldogs had been playing baseball at Riverside Park in Adrian for nearly 60 years before the construction of Nicolay Field.
Nicolay Field is located on the College campus adjacent to AC Softball Field and near Docking Stadium. The Field can be accessed via Stratford Avenue off of West Maumee Street.
Other NCAA regional sites for this spring: New England–Harwich, Mass.; New York–Auburn, N.Y.; Mid-Atlantic–TBD; South–Cary N.C.; Mideast–Adrian; Central–Sauget, Ill.; Midwest–Duluth, Minn.; and West–TBD. The regional champion of each site advances to the Division III World Series at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis., from May 25-29. Appleton will be serving as the sport’s Finals site for the final time before moving to Cedar Rapids and Memorial Stadium beginning in 2019 through 2022.
Adrian is receiving votes in the D3baseball.com Top-25 preseason poll and nationally-ranked No. 39 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The Bulldogs (34-13, 23-5 MIAA in 2017) are favored to capture their 10th-consecutive Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association crown, extending their own conference record, and seeking their 12th NCAA tournament bid in program history.
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