Founders Park
Founders Park, formerly known as Carolina Stadium, is a ballpark in Columbia, South Carolina on the banks of the Congaree River. The facility cost $35.6 million to build and is the home stadium for the South Carolina Gamecocks college baseball team.
Overview
The dimensions of the field are down the right and left-field lines and to dead center, matching those of Sarge Frye Field, the previous home stadium of the Gamecocks. The baseball training facilities at the stadium include four indoor batting tunnels, a weight room, team clubhouse, coaches' offices, and a sports medicine room. Among the numerous amenities for fans, there are five luxury suites and two club-level seating areas with lounges, a Gamecock store just inside the main entrance in the outfield plaza, along with a picnic terrace that accommodates around 120 people down the left-field line. The scoreboard towers over the left field wall and features a 28-by-16-foot video screen.The main stadium entrance to Founders Park is located at the northeast corner of the grounds directly behind the center-field wall. Following the 2010 [South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team|2010 national championship], USC had a mural applied to the backside of its center-field wall, celebrating the 2010 title. In addition, a showcase was built at the base of the wall for the display of the national championship trophy. The mural and trophy case have since been updated to honor both the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team|2010] and 2011 [South Carolina Gamecocks baseball team|2011 championship teams].
In 2013, the website Stadium Journey ranked Carolina Stadium as the second best Division I baseball venue, and received an average rating 4.6 of 5 stars in 7 categories. In 2014, the website ranked it first, with an average rating 4.7 of 5 stars in 7 categories.
In 2015, the ballpark's name was officially changed from Carolina Stadium to Founders Park, becoming only the third college baseball stadium in the United States with a corporate sponsorship. This advertising agreement was extended in 2024.
History
The stadium opened on February 21, 2009, with a 13–0 South Carolina victory over Duquesne with 8,153 fans in attendance, setting a Gamecock home game attendance record. USC President Harris Pastides and former Gamecock baseball coaches Bobby Richardson and June Raines threw out ceremonial first pitches. Darius Rucker, who attended USC, sang the national anthem.A stadium record attendance of 8,242 was set during a game against Florida on May 21, 2010. This record has been matched many times since. The highest attendance for a three-game weekend series, 24,726, was set on April 15–17, 2011, when the Gamecocks hosted #1 Vanderbilt.
Tournaments Hosted
NCAA Regional Tournaments: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2023NCAA Super Regional Tournaments: 2011, 2012, 2016, 2021