Lupton baseball stadium a ‘hit’ with fans
By Braden Howell
Staff Reporter

Not even a 5-3 season opening loss to UT-Arlington could dampen the atmosphere for the 3,105 fans who enjoyed near perfect weather for the debut baseball game at the new Lupton Stadium and Williams-Reilly Field.

“It’s just amazing,” Mallonee Frabotta, a senior nursing major, said. “The size of the stadium, the crowd, it feels like we’re finally at a real game.”

The beautiful weather and the attraction of the new stadium combined to draw the largest crowd ever to witness a baseball game on the TCU campus. Senior marketing major David Vaughan said students are excited about the new stadium and believe it will encourage better student attendance.

“I think it will get students coming more consistently,” Vaughan said.

Because of the large crowd, many fans enjoyed the game from the grassy hill down the right field line after stadium seating filled up. However, few seemed to mind.

“This is a great place to hang out,” Claire Moffet, a sophomore advertising/public relations major, said. “You can hang out with your friends, study, even lay out. It’s great.”

The grassy hill was definitely an instant student favorite of a stadium that is loaded with new amenities. Even those associated with the visiting UT-Arlington Mavericks took time to marvel at the new stadium.

Pete Carlon, the athletic director at UT-Arlington, said Lupton Stadium is just as nice as anything Rice or Texas has.

“It has beautiful locker rooms, nice batting cages and very nice accommodations for the visiting team,” Carlon said. “We look forward to coming over here a lot more.”

Another fan favorite of the new stadium were the patios on first and third base lines. Many fans watched the whole game from the tables on the patios.

“Those are very nice, I really want us to have something like that in our new stadium,” Carlon said.

The stadium helps to create an energetic atmosphere at the game that some students, such as Katie Grisham, a junior early childhood major, believe will attract more fans from the community.

“I think it’s a great way to bring the students and the community together,” Grisham said. “I’ve never seen this many people at a TCU game.”

The $7 million stadium includes luxury suites, training rooms, batting and pitching cages, a press box and a field office for TCU’s head coach. Sophomore education major Daria Murphy said she is pleased to see the school making good use of money.

“It’s a good environment, shaded places to sit and not a bad seat in the house,” Murphy said. “It’s perfect.”

Associate Athletic Director Ross Bailey said the administration was thrilled with the turnout, and that they had not anticipated such a large crowd.

“There were 1,190 students and faculty at the game,” Bailey said. “We couldn’t have asked for more than that.”

He said with the exception of a few long lines and some parking difficulty, they are very pleased with the way the opening went.

And about the game?

“A few more hits and maybe we could have had the perfect day,” Bailey said with a smile.

Braden Howell
b.r.howell@tcu.edu