By Gerard Wellbrock – The Hays Post
Kansas City, MO – The MIAA has announced that James R. Crane Stadium at Robert N. Tompkins Field on the campus of the University of Central Missouri has been selected as the site for the 2018 MIAA baseball tournament. The tournament will be held May 10-13, 2018. The winner of the 8-team tournament receives an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“The MIAA is pleased to announce that our 2018 Conference Baseball Championship will be played at Crane Stadium/Tompkins Field on The University of Central Missouri campus,” said MIAA Commissioner Mike Racy. “We have great all-turf baseball stadiums in the MIAA, and Crane Stadium offers a first class venue to stage the 2018 MIAA Tournament. This will be the third consecutive year that we have conducted the championship at a different campus facility and the conference is looking forward to having UCM serve as this year’s host (The 2016 tournament was at Lou Brock Sports Complex on the Lindenwood University campus; last May the championship was on the Missouri Southern State University campus at Warren Turner Field).”
“The University of Central Missouri is excited to be named the host institution for the 2018 MIAA Baseball Tournament,” commented Central Missouri Athletic Director Jerry Hughes. Crane Stadium is an excellent facility and we’re thrilled to be able to provide the student-athletes with an excellent experience. The tournament will provide an economic boost to the Warrensburg community during the four days of the tournament.”
For more information on the MIAA Baseball Tournament visit the championship website which can be found here.
About James R. Crane Stadium at Robert N. Tompkins Field
In the spring of 1998, Central Missouri enjoyed the completion of an outstanding baseball facility to go with its already outstanding baseball program – James R. Crane Stadium at Robert N. Tompkins Field.
A $1.2 million construction project, funded primarily by Crane, added a locker room and coaches’ offices for the Mules, an umpires dressing room, new dugouts, permanent seats, a concession stand, a press box and lights to the already existing playing field.
In the fall of 2004, a new facility was added to include indoor batting cages and bullpens, a weight room, storage facility, and umpires dressing room. Following that in 2006, permanent seatback chairs were installed for the fans. All of this was funded by Crane. In the summer of 2013, the stadium received another upgrade with a new grass playing surface being installed.
In the fall of 2015, a $1.1 million project to outfit the stadium with a synthetic turf playing surface was funded primarily by Crane. The project, which includes synthetic turf from AstroTurf, was completed prior to the Mules’ 2016 home-opener.
This field, which seats approximately 1,500, has been the site 15 NCCAA Division II Regionals and 12 MIAA Tournaments. The field’s dimensions are 330 feet down each foul line, 375 feet to left center and right center, and 400 feet to center field.