Beer showers, cowbells, Woo Pigs: Welcome to the wide world of SEC baseball
https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/36305192/college-football-crowds-baseball-games-sec-electric-atmospheresThere are only four purpose-built, on-campus college baseball stadiums in Division I that seat more than 10,000. All are in the SEC West. There are only nine that can hold more than 7,000 fans and all but two of those are in the SEC, with one of those -- Texas's Disch-Falk Field -- slated to join the conference as soon as the 2024 baseball season concludes.
Of course, it's not enough to simply have a bunch of seats. Those chairs must also be filled. In 2022, SEC ballparks accounted for the nation's top four teams in total home attendance. Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State and Ole Miss all averaged 10,000 per game or more. OK, that's not entirely true. The Rebs averaged 9,998. SEC schools also accounted for seven of the top nine in average attendance. Again, one of those other two was the SEC-bound Longhorns.
"I think that if you can play outfield in the SEC, you can probably do about anything else that life might throw at you," explained current Corpus Christi Hook Drew Gilbert, who was in the outfield at both Swayze and the Dude as an All-American outfielder for a Tennessee Volunteers team that spent a large portion of 2022 ranked No. 1. "There's smoke and beer blowing in all over you. And the fans at every school, they've done the research. They know where you're from, what classes you're taking, your parents' names, all of it. You want to be angry at them, but honestly, it's more impressive than anything else."
"I'm saying that it is about culture, but it is also about commitment," Peterson said. "If you go to most athletic departments, places with so much college baseball tradition, and you say, 'We think we should build a $60 million baseball stadium,' they'd look at you like, 'What are you talking about?' But Kentucky did it, and they've never been to the College World Series!"
