May 14, 2017
Pete Taylor Park (Capacity: 3,600)
Hattiesburg, MS
Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles vs UAB Blazers
Final Score: 8 – 0
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Our vacation to the Deep South started with Mississippi, where we began in the Pine Belt section of the state, specifically the city of Hattiesburg. Around 45,000 call the “Hub City” home, a nickname derived from Hattiesburg’s beginnings as a center for the lumber and railroad industries. It is also the location for the University of Southern Mississippi, a public school with a big study-abroad program. They have typically had a good baseball team and have made the NCAA Tournament 13 times, including a trip to the College World Series in 2009. In their 20+ year time with Conference USA, three titles belong to the Golden Eagles. Games are played at Pete Taylor Park, a ballpark built in 1984, but pieced together with various changes and enhancements through the years.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
USM is on the west side of the city, which has a massive lineup of big-box retail and chain restaurants up and down Hardy Street. However, there are also some terrific local places to eat too like Crescent City Grill and Georgia Blue (skip Leatha’s, we were treated horribly there and the BBQ wasn’t worth it). Aside from good food, Hattiesburg doesn’t offer too much for the tourist, though there is a zoo and a couple small museums. Be sure to see the front entrance of campus, which has a beautifully manicured area and a rose garden.
Location Ranking: 3.5 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Pete Taylor Park is well away from the center of campus as it sits on the northwest fringes of the University , unappealingly sandwiched between a series of apartment complexes. It is easy to get to though as exit 65 from I-59 is nearby and there are other roads that lead into the Hub City. Parking at the ballpark is reserved, so the general public can use the spaces around the arena across the street or in the larger lot a bit further down. Easy in and easy out.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 8 out of 8
Exterior
The Pete has a disjointed look as the front of the ballpark features two separate brick buildings, one for a baseball office and the other, a box office/concession stand combo. Otherwise, a three-level gray and silver structure looms over the iron entrance gate, which has an appealing ballpark sign and team logo.
Exterior Ranking: 3.5 out of 10
Concourse
A partial concourse is covered and made of the same metallic siding seen from the outside. Not the prettiest, but it’s better than the tighter space underneath the structure, which is used to reach the center and left part of the stadium. Bathrooms were few and far between and when one was found, it was uncomfortably small and outdated. The right part of the ballpark is accessible from the outside and it is down the line into the outfield that has the best ballpark feature. It’s “The Grove”, an area where fans park their truck and set up a tailgate as they watch the game (capacity of 40 spaces).
Concourse Ranking: 2.5 out of 5
Food
Food offerings are all the same at each stand, which is an assortment of generic stadium snacks and drinks. Burgers and Dogs were the only lunchtime option for me.
Food Ranking: 2 out of 8
Interior
Pete Taylor Park has always had a grandstand, but a 2012 renovation cleaned up the facility, attaching previously separated bleachers at each end that extend just past the dugouts. Also added was a double-deck structure just behind the top row that includes luxury suites and a press box. The main seating bowl is angled outward after the first few home plate sections and the two-thirds of the park with individual seating is in the form of older, fold-down seats in a gold color. Cover from the elements is lacking, but the top couple of rows do receive shade during afternoon games. Wider, black seats are found just below the walkway as a few rows are near the field. A look to the outfield provides fans a pleasant background of trees, which is consistent for wooded Southern Mississippi.
Interior Ranking: 5.5 out of 14
Scoreboard
In left-center, pointed towards home plate is an adequate scoreboard based in black. The top of the board says “Southern Miss” with an eagle logo accompanying the wordmark. There are a couple of ads on the fringes of the board and near the center is a digital screen, which is so small that it takes a little while to recognize what it is. The graphics utilized on it during the game did give a little life to the board.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2.5 out of 4
Displays
There are small, but multiple posters both in and out of the ballpark that display the team achievements by Southern Miss. These come in various forms and are done well. The 2009 team gets particular attention as they went to the College World Series and the long banner behind the first-base bleachers is one to check out as it includes a team picture from Omaha.
Displays Ranking: 2.5 out of 6
Cost
Tickets are $10 for a bleacher seat and $15 for a chairback. Nobody checks your stub and if there are some empty ones to move in to mid-game, that’s not a problem. Ticket prices jump $5 for each section when in-state rivals Ole Miss or Mississippi State come to town. Everything else is quite affordable with free parking, $1 programs and average concession prices (all food and drinks vary between $3 and $6).
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8
Fan Support
The Pete was only about 50% full on Senior Day and for a baseball team ranked in the Top 15, that seems disappointing. However, it should be noted Southern Miss does well for attendance in comparison with the rest of the NCAA. They annually draw numbers in the Top 25 of attendance standings and they, along with Rice, have by far the best fan bases in the conference. In addition, C-USA’s tourney was held the following week in Biloxi (1.5 hours away) and USM had a huge contingent there as they filled up a good chunk of the ballpark and made a lot of noise.
Fan Support Ranking: 6 out of 8
Atmosphere
The crowd reacted quite well to the game and their frequent words of encouragement by calling out to first names of players on their team shows the personal attachment to the fans. This was exemplified by the long-standing ovation they gave to senior Dylan Burdeaux in his final home game. They were still laid-back and not many stood when a run was scored, but their volume and extended clapping made for a decent crowd, who were mostly wearing gold and black shirts.
Atmosphere Ranking: 8 out of 14
Other Stuff
The people of Hattiesburg have unfortunately been severely impacted by weather recently as Hurricane Katrina had a major impact in 2005, while two tornadoes have damaged parts of the city within the last five years…..The playing surface is “Hill Denson Field” and along with Pete Taylor these two men were the program’s most celebrated coaches…..Originally known as the “Southerners”, the school changed nicknames in 1972 and recently, a 20-foot Golden Eagle statue was installed near the main entrance….Seating Capacity at stadiums is a fickle thing and while 4,500 is the listed capacity that seems to account for standing room or the back of trucks. To figure out the more true seated number, I added the 2,054 chairback seats and the 1,212 bleacher seats for 3,266 (that’s from the school’s website). Some estimating was then needed for the suite (12) level and the picnic level and that brings me to a rough guestimate of 3,600.
Game
Southern Miss was in control the whole time and Taylor Braley pitched a shutout for 7 innings, while the bullpen closed the rest of the game off. UAB mustered only four total hits. The offense for the Golden Eagles hit well and they scored 8 in total with Tracy Hadley picking him 3 hits and 3 RBI. The 8-0 win wrapped up the C-USA regular-season title for the Eagles.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
