FLORENCE, Ala. -
On Friday, March 14, the
University of North Alabama Board of
Trustees approved the renaming of the
school's baseball facility from University
Field to Mike D. Lane Field, in honor of the
school's current head baseball coach.
Since Mike
Lane’s arrival at the University of North
Alabama in 1983, University Field has taken
on an entirely different look, with
overwhelming results. Among the additions
the UNA baseball program has seen under Lane
over the years were a new press-box,
dugouts, scoreboard, lockerroom, lights and
grand stand - in addition to a vastly
improved playing field. Then this past
summer and fall a major renovation of more
than $500,000, led by Lane, helped produce a
new entrance way, iron gating, new ticket
booth, new restrooms, new scoreboard and an
elevated grandstand.
And the home
atmosphere of University Field has in turn
proved beneficial to the Lions’ play as UNA
has won an incredible 78.9 percent of its
games at home over the last 24 seasons.
Since 1983-84, UNA has posted a 546-147-4
record at home, including a 25-5 record at
University Field in 2006 and a 22-10 mark
last season.
In 1999 the
Lions won both the Gulf South Conference and
NCAA Division II South Central Regional
Tournament championships on their home field
and went 32-5 at home.
The Lions have
20 or more home games in 19 of the last 22
seasons.
Those
impressive records at home have been crucial
in Lane’s ability to turn the Lions’ program
into one of the most consistent winners in
the country. UNA has won 879 games since
Lane’s arrival for an average of 36 wins per
season, and the Lions have participated in
the NCAA playoffs in ten of the last 24
seasons. Lane ranks among the winningest
active and winningest all-time coaches in
NCAA Division II history in both wins and
winning percentage. He has led UNA to 24
straight winning seasons and averaged 36.5
wins per season for the last 24 years. The
UNA baseball program won just 400 games
combined in the 35 seasons prior to Lane's
arrival, and he has led the Lions to 879
wins in just 24 seasons.
In 1989, UNA
hosted its first NCAA baseball event and
drew record crowds to University Field to
watch three Gulf South Conference schools -
UNA, Jacksonville State and Delta State -
battle for the regional crown . In 1995 UNA
hosted its second regional, which was again
an All-GSC affair with UNA, Delta State and
Valdosta State, and in 1997 UNA hosted Elon
and Central Oklahoma in the South Central
Regional. Last season UNA hosted its fourth
regional that included Alabama-Huntsville,
Delta State and Southeastern Oklahoma State.
UNA struggled
to go 11-7 at home in 1984 but won the first
GSC baseball championship in school history
on the field with a sweep of Mississippi
College in the championship round.
That record has
been followed by numerous impressive marks,
including 17 seasons with 20 or more home
wins. Night baseball also began at
University Field in 1990, and UNA went 9-1
in home night games that season, including a
6-2 win over Division I power Middle
Tennessee State in the dedication game on
April 5.
UNA baseball
has come a long way in the last 24 seasons,
and Mike D. Lane Field is a reflection of
those changes. It is now among the top
facilities in Division II baseball.
