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The Citadel Athletics

The Citadel Athletics | The Military College of South Carolina
wide angle crowd vs CofC View full image
Joe Riley Park View full image
Riley Park sunset 2020 View full image
Team vs. UNCG View full image

Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park

Opened April 6, 1997
Dimensions LF - 305
LC - 356
CF - 399
RC - 366
RF - 337
Surface Bermuda Grass
First Game April 6, 1997
The Citadel 6, Western Carolina 5
Largest Crowd 6,500
April 16, 2014
The Citadel 10, #6 South Carolina 8

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE BASEBALL CLUBHOUSE PROJECT

Riley Park is more than a playing field for the Bulldogs. The Citadel clubhouse provides individual lockers for each player, a coaches’ locker room, and office and meeting space. The Bulldog Hall of Fame that boasts players that have gone on to the professional ranks, along with The Citadel's Wall of Champions, line the halls leading to the clubhouse. There are also exclusive tunnels that run to the batting cages and dugout as well as a sports medicine training room.
 
Riley Park also features ample restroom facilities, convenient concession stands, sufficient parking, a state-of-the-art videoboard, an easy-to-read scoreboard with LED lighting, party areas, skyboxes, a comfortable press box with separate radio and television booths, three locker rooms, umpires' locker room, training rooms, significant office space and just about all amenities for which one could ask.
 
Designed by HOK Sport, the same architecture firm that designed Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Coors Field in Denver, Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. and PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Riley Park is located on the banks of the Ashley River with a view of the Charleston Marina beyond the left-center field wall.
 
The Bulldogs officially moved into The Joe on April 6, 1997 against Western Carolina. The outcome was one that nobody would soon forget as Ryan Butler hit a two-run walk-off home run to the give the Bulldogs a 6-5 victory over Western Carolina.
 
The Citadel has amassed a 485-320 record at The Joe, including posting 19 winning seasons in the first 24 years. The Bulldogs posted at least 25 home wins seven times, including 27 victories during the 2000 and 2006 seasons.
 
During the 2014 season, The Citadel set a Charleston baseball attendance record when 6,500 fans came out to see the Bulldogs defeat No. 6 South Carolina, 10-8.
 
In its inaugural season, Riley Park became home to the Southern Conference Tournament, a popular mainstay in the Holy City. One of the most attended college baseball tournaments in the nation, The Citadel and Riley Park hosted the SoCon Tournament through the 2008 season, marking 19 consecutive years the tournament has been held in Charleston. After a year's absence in Greenville in 2009, the tournament returned to The Joe to host four of the next six conference tournaments.
 
The single-game tournament attendance record of 5,419 was set in 2003 for an opening round game between The Citadel and the College of Charleston. The tournament attendance record was set in 2004 when more than 35,000 fans attended the SoCon Tournament at Riley Park, an average of 2,343 per game. The top 10 attendance marks for the SoCon Tournament have happened at The Joe.
 
The Citadel won five of its eight conference tournament championships in the friendly confines of The Joe.
 
Riley Park also played host to the Clemson-South Carolina game in 2012 and the Team USA vs. Japan Collegiate Series in 2018.
 
The Citadel shares its home with the Charleston RiverDogs, the Class-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The RiverDogs currently play in the South Atlantic League (SAL).


 

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