A celebration at The Cliff: See what UK baseball has planned for stadium sendoff
The University of Kentucky baseball team is pulling out all the stops in celebration of the final regular-season series at Cliff Hagan Stadium this weekend.
Special events are planned around all three games of the Wildcats' series against Mississippi State, beginning with a Senior Night ceremony on Friday where Troy Squires, Luke Becker, Alec Maley, Brad Schaenzer and Luke Heyer will be honored. Prints of Cliff Hagan Stadium will be given away and there will be a postgame fireworks show.
Saturday's festivities will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a pregame ceremony honoring UK's 1988 team, which finished one win short of the College World Series. Members of the team as well as Coach Keith Madison will participate. Kids will be welcomed onto the field to run the bases after the game.
Madison is one of several former UK coaches who will help close out the 50th and final season at The Cliff. A couple of Bulldogs will also join in.
Sunday's game will kick off with ceremonial first pitches from Madison, current head coach Nick Mingione, Dick Parsons and Steve Horne, the son of former coach Jordan Horne. Also throwing out first pitches will be Mississippi State interim coach Gary Henderson, who led the Wildcats for eight years prior to Mingione taking over, and Mississippi State Athletic Director John Cohen, who coached the Cats from 2004-08.
The team will celebrate Mother's Day by giving flowers to moms in the stands on Sunday. After the game, fans will be allowed to take the field and throw ceremonial "last pitches" from the mound. The first 3,000 participants will receive commemorative baseballs.
The Wildcats will move into their new $49 million stadium, which has not yet been named, sometime this summer. Located off Alumni Drive between Kroger Field and UK's softball and soccer fields, the facility will also house the baseball team offices and practice facilities.
This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 5:12 PM with the headline "A celebration at The Cliff: See what UK baseball has planned for stadium sendoff."