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Oxford-University StadiumOle Miss’ Swayze renovation plans finalized

Daily Mississippian / TY G. ALLUSHUSKI

University, MS (CSTV U-WIRE) April 12, 2007—The expansion of Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field has long been known, but finalized plans were released to the public early last week. At the conclusion of the 2007 season, Swayze Field will undergo a massive $10 million to $12 million dollar renovation. The project is being handled by architects Cooke Douglass Farr Lemons in Jackson, Miss., and will be ready for the start of the 2008 campaign.

A virtual tour of the new stadium is available online at http://www.olemisssports.com.

“I’m very excited about (the expansion) and very proud,” Ole Miss baseball head coach Mike Bianco said. “Being part of the process, it still amazes me. I still catch myself clicking on that button and taking the tour online.” The major additions to the ballpark will include 880 club seats between the first- and third-base lines, as well as an increase in box seats from 400 to 1,700. The total number of seats at the stadium will climb from 2,951 to more than 6,000. A major change to the outside of the stadium will be a red-brick facade with a roof similar to those of buildings on campus.

Prior to the construction, set to begin this summer, Swayze Field had already undergone some renovations in left and right field. More seating was added to the area beyond the right-field wall that is typically populated by Ole Miss students, and Oakes Pavilion in left field was extended all the way to left-centerfield to provide more seating and grilling area. In addition to the outfield expansions, the stadium received a new state-of-the-art scoreboard prior to the first pitch of 2007.

The last component of the expansion was new coaching offices just outside the stadium that were recently completed. Bianco and the rest of the baseball staff were able to move into the new offices this past week. Bianco expressed his satisfaction with the progress and noted that Swayze Field will be among the finest baseball venues in the country at the conclusion of the renovations.

“When you start thinking about the outfield expansion in both left and right field, the scoreboard, the hitting complex, the office, it is hard to imagine a better baseball facility in the country.”

The success of the Ole Miss baseball team in recent seasons is no secret, with a pair of host Super Regionals and attendance that climbed past 10,000 in the postseason. The new expansion will lend further credence to Ole Miss’ arrival as one of collegiate baseball’s elite programs, and Bianco hopes that already stellar recruiting efforts will now be aided by the new facility.

“Certainly you hope that kids want to play in a neat stadium and play in neat facilities, and I’m sure that’s what most recruits look at,” Bianco said. “Certainly we feel we’re salesmen of the university, and it makes it a lot easier to sell when you have a nice product. We’ve already had a nice product and this makes it that much better.”

© 2007 Daily Mississippian via CSTV U-WIRE