If you build it, who will come? College baseball could find a new Lancaster Co. home
A new regional sports complex in Lancaster County could open up with play from college baseball teams around the region.
Lancaster County Council approved a resolution Monday night to study whether a new field at the coming park by the Roselyn development can be built to host the USC Lancaster Lancer program. The county parks and recreation department is in the early design phase for the project.
The state legislature would have to approve funding for the new field. USC Lancaster is part of the larger, state-funded University of South Carolina system. Current discussions between county, school and state officials involve one of four planned fields laid out in a clover pattern.
“One would be a collegiate field,” county administrator Steve Willis said of Monday’s decision. “This is not committing us to this field. It’s simply committing that we will plan for the field.”
The resolution Monday is a needed step to go further with state funding plans. Details like the split on gate or concession receipts, field maintenance and usage when USCL isn’t playing would come through a likely government agreement between the county, school and state. Early conversations are ongoing.
Willis said county recreation staff is ecstatic about the possibility.
“It’s just a question of whether the delegation can pull off some funding,” he said.
USC Lancaster is one of seven listed Division 1 teams in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 10. The Lancers are listed alongside other USC schools from Salkehatchie, Sumter and Union, plus Florence-Darlington Tech, Louisburg and Spartanburg Methodist.
The national JUCO site shows two dozen listed home games in the 2021 season, though some were postponed or canceled. The Lancers had a 16-28 record. The team was 19-4 in early 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down collegiate spring sports across the country. The squad went 30-16 in 2019 and won 41 games in 2017. The team plays homes games at Lancaster High School.
The number of fields at the coming sports complex won’t change, but knowing whether to build one to collegiate play specifications is important early in planning. The county also will reach out to other entities where a college team and municipality might partner, like Winthrop University and Rock Hill.
“Obviously a collegiate field is going to be a little bit bigger, a little bit nicer than what we would normally have for a regional recreational complex,” Willis said.
Rock Hill has for decades now become synonymous with sports tourism. Sites from Cherry Park to Manchester Meadows, multiple world class biking facilities, the city sports and event center and the coming Carolina Panthers headquarters project have centered the city as a sports destination.
Lake Wylie, Fort Mill, Tega Cay and other municipalities have followed suit in recent years with new or planned baseball and softball complexes. The typical plan involves a set of fields youth rec leagues can use during the week. Tournament play then follows on the weekends, which generates revenue.
Lancaster County leaders want to grow the county as a tourism option. Large residential developments in the Indian Land area have come with some property set aside for parks. Notably, the many baseball/softball and multipurpose fields at Walnut Creek.
“One of the things y’all have worked on is how are we going to bring folks in? Bring the tourists in?” Willis told council Monday night.
The regional sports complex is planned near the southern part of the county panhandle, between Indian Land and Lancaster. The county outlined plans last month for a more than $15 million park.
Councilwoman Charlene McGriff likes the partnership idea between county and school, pending state funding.
“I’m all in favor of USCL and council doing whatever we can because they are a vital part of this community,” she said. “But money will come on the table from Columbia.”
McGriff believes both sides could benefit.
“I surely hope they would agree to it because it would really boost the sports complex more than it will be once it’s open,” she said.
Councilman Larry Honeycutt agrees.
”I think it would be to our advantage to have them there,” he said. “If we’re going to bring in teams from all over the states — not just state but states — coming in to play baseball here at this facility, it’s going to be a winner for us.”
