Locker Room Renovations
This season will mark the 22nd season of baseball at Reagan Field at its current location adjacent to Roy Stewart Stadium and the CFSB Center.
The first Murray State game played on the new field came March 11, 1989, when the 'Breds fell to Eastern Illinois 13-11 in the first game of a double-header with the Panthers and Illinois.
Previously located where the current Martha Layne Collins Industry and Technology Building was erected across from the Curris Center, the Murray State baseball field has a history as rich and established as the team itself.
Named for former coach Johnny Reagan – as is his high school field in Bismark, Mo. – Reagan Field has hosted some of the best NCAA Division I teams in the region.
The baseball facility offers the familiar terrace seating, which was a unique quality of its predecessor. There is also ample parking at the Roy Stewart Stadium parking lot with easy access from U.S. Highway 641 and Ky. Highway 121.
The field features symmetrical dimensions: 330 feet from homeplate to the foul poles, 375 feet in the power alleys and 400 feet to straightaway centerfield, where a 16-foot fence provides a challenge to sluggers.
A modern inning-by-inning scoreboard – a gift to the university from Pepsi Cola Bottling in Paducah, Ky. – is found in left field. A new sound system and a backstop were added in the spring of 2006.
Other features of Reagan Field include a climate-controlled press box and spacious dugouts which provide the 'Breds and their visitors a roomy environment from which they can plot game strategy.
A lush grass carpet is the centerpiece of the facility, including a newly resodded outfield which was completed during the off-season in 2007.
The field opened on March 11, 1989, when Illinois played Eastern Illinois prior to Murray State's game with EIU. Rick Grogan threw the first pitch and, a day later, Willie Wilder hit the first MSU home run on the field.
On March 30, 1989, the field was the site of Johnny Reagan's 700th career coaching victory, a 7-5 win over Lincoln Memorial. The field was officially dedicated on April 15, 1989.