JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State University is set to dedicate Rudy Abbott Field at Jim Case Stadium on Friday in a ceremony at 2 p.m. on the field, which will host Mississippi State in an exhibition on Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
The public is invited to attend the ceremony, where the seating area of the new facility will be open for attendees to sit in. Following the ceremony, the baseball program will host an Open House, where fans can get a first glimpse inside the new state-of-the-art facility.
 
JSU announced in August that the new stadium would be named in honor of the Gamecocks' head coach, who will be entering his 18thseason at the helm in 2019. Case is the dean of the coaches in the league and leads all active coaches with 262 OVC wins and a .639 winning percentage in league play. He has posted an overall record of 547-453, won six league titles and claimed two OVC Coach of the Year honors. Having his name on the new stadium he has helped oversee from the start of the planning process will be extra special for him.
 
"I do not have words to express how grateful I am to have my name associated with one of the finest stadiums that I have ever seen," Case said of the honor back in the summer. "It's an overwhelming honor and I am so thankful for it. This stadium is a generous tribute to the tradition of JSU Baseball and is a great commitment to its future."
 
During the ceremony, fans will get a chance to hear from Case, as well as Rudy Abbott, who the field has been named after since 2000. The Hall of Fame coach won over 1,000 games and back-to-back National Championships in 1990 and 1991.
 
The Bulldogs will come to Jacksonville fresh off an appearance in the Championship Series of the College World Series in June. It will be the first time they've been to JSU since the 2006 season, when they brought the No. 1 ranked team in the country to Rudy Abbott Field.
 
The exhibition game will be a little more special to Case, who spent seven years in Starkville, where he helped guide MSU to six regional appearances, two Super Regionals and two College World Series appearances.  
 
"It's very exciting that the first game played in our stadium will be against a great team like Mississippi State," Case said. "It means even more to me because of the seven years that Jan and I spent in Starkville. I would like to thank Coach Lemonis for making this game happen."
 
The baseball stadium will include a 1,000 seat spectator grandstand with a shade canopy, seven VIP suites that will be able to entertain large groups with seating inside and outside, a new state-of-the-art press box to include radio and television broadcast booths, a game operations center.