Irish Facilities
Notre Dame's Frank three-year-old Frank Eck Stadium has taken its place alongside some
of the finer baseball facilities, not only in the Midwest but in the nation.
Since its opening in 1994, the 2,500-seat Eck Stadium became the latest jewel among
Notre Dame's ever-expanding athletic facilities.
Located on the southeast corner of campus, Eck Stadium has become a favorite with the
Irish as Notre Dame has posted a 79-18 home mark (for an .814 winning percentage) over
the past three seasons.
Eck Stadium includes spacious home and visitor locker room areas, meeting rooms and
coaching facilities for each team. The stadium also houses a beautiful press box/VIP
room overlooking home plate and the 2,500-seat grandstand. The stadium is illuminated
by a lighting system for night play.
"We're blessed to have such a beautiful facility as Eck Stadium," says Irish coach Paul
Mainieri. "It's truly a first-class place to practice and play in. Our program takes
great pride and care in the fact that we have one of the finest home fields in all of
college baseball."
Plans to build the stadium were announced on June 7, 1991, thanks to a generous gift to
the University by alumnus Frank Eck and his company, Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc., of
Columbus, Ohio. Eck is the firm's chairman and chief executive officer. He graduated in
1944 with a degree in chemical engineering and later endowed a collection in that field
at Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library. Eck also has underwritten construction of the Eck
Tennis Pavilion, an on-campus indoor tennis facility completed in 1987. His next campus
project is the much-anticipated Eck Center, a multiuse facility that will house a
greatly expanded Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore, heqdquarters for the Notre Dame Alumni
Association and a new campus visitors' center.
During the 1995 Notre Dame alumni game, the University officially named the playing
surface inside Eck Stadium as "Jake Kline Field", in honor of the program's winningest
coach.
Irish baseball players also utilize the indoor facilities of the Loftus Sports Center,
located just 300 yards north of "The Eck," for preseason workouts and conditioning.
Dedicated in 1988, the Loftus Center also houses the Haggar Fitness Complex and Meyo
Field.
The Haggar Fitness Complex augments weightlifting areas in both the Joyce Center and
Rockne Memorial Building as one of the most comprehensive free-weight lifting and
exercise machine facilities in the country.
Meyo Field is a 100-yard Astro Turf field surrounded by a six-lane one-fifth of a mile
long track. The Astro Turf field allows for infield practice while the facility also
includes a netting system to handle indoor batting practice.
