October 31, 2017/NEW YORK/ —The 2018 BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep will be co-hosted by Xavier University at Prasco Park in nearby Mason, Ohio. Prasco Park becomes the ninth location in the history of BIG EAST baseball to play host to the league’s postseason championship series. The tournament will be held May 24-27, 2018.

Prasco Park is only the second ballpark to host the BIG EAST Baseball Championship not on the East Coast. TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, home of the 2014 and 2016 championships is the other. The park is about 20 miles north of Cincinnati and a 30-minute drive from Xavier’s campus.

Prasco Park has a total seating capacity of 1,250, plus standing room space. There will be no charge for admission or concessions for BIG EAST Championship fans in attendance. Located on the campus of Prasco Laboratories, the park opened on June 19, 2008 and has become one of the premier amateur baseball destinations in America. Last year Xavier hosted Seton Hall in the first game of a three-game series at Prasco Park, a contest that was broadcast on FS1.

Since joining the league in 2014, Xavier, this year’s tournament co-host, has won three of the four BIG EAST Championships (2014, 2016, 2017). The Musketeers joined Seton Hall, Rutgers and Connecticut for third most in league history. With back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017, Xavier became the first team since Louisville in 2008 and 2009 to repeat as tournament champions.

Seven of the 10 BIG EAST full time members sponsor baseball as a NCAA Division I sport: Butler, Creighton, Georgetown, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova and Xavier. In 2017, BIG EAST Tournament Champion Xavier and St. John’s represented the league in the NCAA tournament field. The BIG EAST began sponsoring baseball as a championship sport in 1985.

From 1985 through 1995, the BIG EAST baseball championship was held in Bristol, Conn. at Muzzy Field. In 1996, the championship moved to Thomas J. Dodd Memorial Stadium in Norwich, Conn., home of the Norwich Navigators. The championship remained in Norwich for three championships. In 1999, the tournament was hosted in Trenton, N.J. at Waterfront Park, home of the Trenton Thunder. The championship stayed in New Jersey for the next six years where it moved to Somerset Ballpark in Bridgewater, N.J. In 2006, the league played its first championship at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. The next season, the BIG EAST moved the tournament for one year to then-Key Span Park in Brooklyn, N.Y., before returning to Clearwater from 2008-13.

Since the BIG EAST restructured in 2014, the championship has been held in a different location each year. In 2014, Brooklyn hosted for a second time, rebranded as MCU Park. TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, home to the College World Series, hosted in 2015 and 2017. Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, in Aberdeen, Md., home field of the Ironbirds, hosted in 2016.

The final of the 2018 BIG EAST Championship at Prasco Park will air on FS2. Games 1 through 5 will steam on the BIG EAST Digital Network, a dedicated channel on the FOX Sports GO app. FOX Sports is the BIG EAST Conference’s broadcast partner.

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Contacts:

Contact: Kristin Quinn, Assistant Commissioner
646.663.3456 | kquinn@bigeast.com | Online: http://bit.ly/2xBkUem



 

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