Reckling Park
| (Cameron Field at Reckling Park) | |
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| Location | Houston, Texas |
|---|---|
| Owner | Rice University |
| Operator | Rice University |
| Capacity | 5,368 |
| Field size | Left field - 330 ft Left Center - 375 ft Center field - 400 ft Right Center - 375 ft Right field - 330 ft |
| Surface | Bermuda grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1999 |
| Opened | February 8, 2000 |
| Architect | Jackson & Ryan |
| Tenants | |
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Rice University baseball (NCAA) (2000-present) C-USA Tournament (2006) |
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Reckling Park is the baseball stadium at Rice University in Houston, Texas, USA. It serves as the home field of the Rice Owls baseball team. The stadium was built on the site of Cameron Field, Rice's home from 1978–99, in time for the 2000 season. The Owls have hosted 10 NCAA regional and five super regional tournaments at Reckling Park, including one of each in their national championship season of 2003 and in the years of other College World Series appearances, 2002, 2006, 2007, and 2008. The stadium was named for its principal donor, former Rice player Tommy Reckling.
The nearby Texas Medical Center can be seen from the outfield.
In the first game, the University of Houston beat Rice 6-2 on February 8, 2000. Since then, Rice has been very successful at Reckling Park. Under head coach Wayne Graham, the Owls are 219-46 at Reckling Park, an .826 winning percentage. Rice won three consecutive NCAA regionals at Reckling Park from 2001–03 and advanced to the College World Series by winning back-to-back NCAA super regionals at home in 2002 and 2003.
The Owls have made late-inning rallies traditional at Reckling Park, starting with the 2001 season. On February 10, 2001, Rice beat top-ranked Georgia Tech 5-4 after trailing 4-3 with two outs and no runners on base in the ninth inning. The Owls used similar drama to win the 2001 NCAA regional in its decisive seventh game. Rice trailed 4-2 entering the ninth inning against Baylor but rallied to win 5-4.
Rice won several games in its last at-bat in 2002, and the home season culminated with 6-0 and 3-0 shutouts of LSU at Reckling Park in the NCAA super regionals, the only time in the seven-year history of the super regionals a team has been shut out in both games.
The 2003 season was the culmination of an 11-year building process for head coach Wayne Graham, and Rice won a school-record 30 consecutive games in February, March, and April, including 22 wins at Reckling Park, en route to a 58-12 record. The streak was highlighted by a 2-1, 10-inning win against defending national champion Texas March 11. In the postseason, Rice rallied from a first-game defeat against crosstown rival Houston to again win the super regional at Reckling Park. In the 2003 College World Series, Rice beat Southwest Missouri State, rival Texas twice, and Stanford two-games-to-one to capture its first national championship in any team sport.
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