Crushers Stadium
Crushers Stadium is a baseball park in Avon, Ohio, United States. It is the home of the Lake Erie Crushers, a Frontier League team that began play in 2009. The ballpark has a capacity of 5,000 people and opened on June 2, 2009, with the Crushers defeating the Windy City Thunderbolts, 5-2. The naming rights to the ballpark are currently unowned. The ballpark was known as All Pro Freight Stadium until January 2017,[1] and Sprenger Stadium until December 2019.[2]
Exterior view in 2010 | |
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Former names | All Pro Freight Stadium (2009–2017) Sprenger Stadium (2017–2019) |
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Location | 2009 Baseball Boulevard Avon, Ohio 44011 United States |
Owner | Avon Ballpark LLC |
Capacity | 5,000+ |
Construction | |
Broke ground | July 1, 2008 |
Opened | June 2, 2009 |
Construction cost | $12.1 million |
Architect | OSports - Osborn Sports and Recreation Architecture |
Structural engineer | Osborn Engineering |
General contractor | Infinity Group |
Tenants | |
Lake Erie Crushers (FL) (2009–present) Cleveland State Vikings (NCAA) (2010–2011) |
Other uses
Cleveland State baseball
The Cleveland State Vikings baseball team played home games at the ballpark for the 2010 and 2011 seasons. After the 2011 season, however, Cleveland State dropped its baseball program.[3][4]
Mid-American Conference Tournament
From 2012 through 2019, the ballpark hosted the Mid-American Conference Baseball Tournament, held in late May. In its most recent setup, the top six teams in the MAC earned berths to the tournament, which used a double-elimination format over five days. The winner of the tournament earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. The 2020 tournament was also scheduled to be held at Crushers Stadium from May 20–24, but was cancelled in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In May 2020, the Mid-American Conference announced that the baseball tournament was one of eight conference tournaments that were eliminated for at least the next four seasons beginning in 2020–21.[5][6]
References
- "Lake Erie Crushers announce new stadium name". WKYC. January 4, 2017. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
- "Lake Erie Crushers search for new stadium naming rights partner: Short Takes on Avon, Avon Lake and North Ridgeville". The Plain Dealer. February 10, 2019. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- "Vikings To Play Home Baseball Games at All Pro Freight Stadium". CSUVikings.com. October 10, 2009. Retrieved January 4, 2017.
- "Cleveland State Baseball Team to call All Pro Freight Stadium Home". Archived from the original on April 25, 2010. Retrieved June 2, 2010.
- "2011-12 Champ Dates". MAC Sports. Archived from the original on February 9, 2012. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
- Strack, Jordan (May 12, 2020). "Major changes coming to Mid-American Conference". WTOL.com. Retrieved May 12, 2020.