still fun to beat the Hornets! But you have an excellent point. Would be great playing SFSU or another local DII team. Does Sonoma still have baseball?

Yeah, SSU still has baseball, but they're not the powerhouse they were when UCD and GCU were still there. The same is true of Chico State, who have a couple of national baseball titles. There's a lot more parity. SFSU is actually good now. They used to be a joke against every team but UCD back in the day.

I have been to a few different college ballparks in the bay area (including Cal and Stanford) and SFSU is on the list of college ballparks I still want to visit. Sonoma State, from pictures I've seen, has a weird ballpark. It'essentially looks like a HS field with minimal seating but there is a nice scenic view behind the outfield wall. But this weird HS Field has box seats in the dirt. I believe they said they were from Candlestick and that Dobbins Stadium has seats from the Seattle Kingdome.

I really do not understand UCD baseball's aversion to playing non-DI teams. The SoCal Big West teams often play Westmont, among others. Sac State sometimes plays Menlo College. If it's a matter of money changing hands it's not like they'd have to pay SF State any more than any of the D1 teams they schedule.

maybe an RPI/ strength of schedule related issue? Or possibly that there are so many DI baseball teams nearby, they'd rather just play them?

Have you been to St. Marys upgraded field? If so, impressions?

No, hopefully I can get out to Saint Mary's for a game in 2024. They didn't allow spectators at home games in 2023 due to the construction. I have seen some very brief videos of a game UCD played there. It looks like they installed a big metal grandstand with bleachers and box seats similar to Sac State's behind home plate. That wasn't so visually appealing, but maybe they were unfinished at the time. Unlike Sac State though there's supposed to be a new entry plaza to give you more of a pro ballpark feel, like Stanford has.

I am hoping they will continue to let fans bring in food and drinks. They had a food truck there at games I've attended but I've heard grumblings that the food wasn't hot enough, like maybe it was made in an on-campus kitchen + driven there.

I will say that the concessions at Dobbins Stadium have improved over the years. I remember one game a few years ago a hot dog was barely edible (and it wasn't) but now they are actually decent.

I drove by it, the exterior matches the campus architecture. Actual architecture. The building behind home plate (?) - which butts up against an internal campus loop road - seemed smaller than I expected.

I saw online they wound up scaling back the project somewhat due to expenses. The new structure is supposed to seat between 600-700 instead of the over 1,000 originally planned but that's still plenty of seats for the average crowd. Might have to be a little closer to other fans than one would like at a baseball game, but considering their previous bleacher set-up I think people will like it.

Smaller seems to be the new strategy for new college ballparks. They take less time and money to build. Also you just don't get 3,000 fans to come to a college game except in the south. I saw on Utah's website they are building an on-campus ballpark of about 1,200 or so on the site of their practice field, scheduled to open next year. Currently they play their home games at a Triple-A stadium seating over 20,000-probably less than ideal. It makes me wonder if San Jose State might follow suit in the near future, as they have a practice field that has been used for games in the past. However, they share Excite Ballpark with the Single-A San Jose Giants and attending games there I would say SJSU seems to be treated like they're just subleasing the place. There's absolutely no SJSU branding to be found anywhere and their crowds (about 700 for a televised game I saw) look silly in a 4,000 seat park. They also seem to have games that end early that are not due to weather, kind of like they have a time on game days they have to be out by. I have not gotten a good look at the practice field but I assume parking would not be an issue.