NEW YORK – The BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep returns to Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, for 2019 after a successful tournament last season. Xavier will once again return as co-host for the league's postseason championship series, which will be held May 23-26.
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. During last year's championship BIG EAST fans enjoyed a fun family atmosphere with children's inflatables, a tee-ball park, an ice cream truck and game day promotions from Chick-fil-A, Skyline Chili and LaRosa's Pizza.
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. During the 2017 regular season, Xavier hosted Seton Hall in the first game of a three-game series at Prasco Park, a contest that was broadcast on FS1.
St. John's won last year's tournament, which went to the "if-necessary" game for the first time since 2003. Only St. John's and Xavier have won the BIG EAST Baseball Championship since the league's realignment in 2014.
The final of the 2019 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.
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.
Since the BIG EAST restructured in 2014, the championship has been held in a different location each year, this will be the first time since 2013 a host site will repeat in consecutive years. In 2014, Brooklyn hosted, 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.
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. 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.
