Clark-LeClair Stadium

About Clark-LeClair Stadium

The design plan for the facility, which was built on the old site of Harrington Field, increased the seating capac­ity to 3,000 (permanent seating) and can hold upwards of 2,000 additional spectators in the elevated berm area known as the “Williams Jungle.”

With an estimated price tag of $12 million, Clark-Le­Clair Stadium, which was named after Pirate alumnus and key contributor Bill Clark and former Pirate skipper Keith LeClair, nearly doubled Harrington Field’s capacity of approximately 1,750 (excluding outfield areas). Field area was named after E.R. Lewis Construction.

The playing surface consists of Celebration Bermuda turf while the infield is a clay base and the warning track will be composed of crushed brick. Among the features are indoor and outdoor batting cages, a VIP booth, picnic areas, coaches’ offices and a video scoreboard (which was installed in February 2004). Player amenities include a spacious clubhouse and lock­er room, onsite equipment and training rooms and video system to study player mechanics.

To accommodate the writers and broadcasters cover­ing the nationally-ranked Pirates, a state-of-the-art press box features a main writing level and two over­flow areas that can seat 30 media members comfortably, a TV broadcast location, two radio booths, a Pirate Club (fundraising/hospitality) suite and a viewing suite for the LeClair family. In addition to housing the video op­erations that streams all of ECU’s home games live on­line, it is also the stadium operations control center for all of the marketing promotions efforts.

Recent additions to Clark-LeClair Stadium include a new batter’s eye, outfield fence with black padded walls and protective netting down the first, and third base bleachers in 2007 to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the playing area. In the winter of 2009 field turf was installed behind the plate with the words “Pirates” inscribed and before the 2017 season, turf was added down the right and leftfield foul lines, along with a new graphics on the concourse level, padded walls behind home plate, a new state of the art scoreboard and sound system. In the summer of 2019, a new 7,125-square foot hit­ting facility was completed down the right field line costing right a $1 million. It features three cages for hitting, state of the art pitching machines and sur­round sound system along with central heat and air. It is laid with top of the line field turf and retractable netting to allow for throwing, ground balls, defensive drills, etc.

The Pirates have hosted the 2007 Conference USA Tournament, six NCAA Regionals (2009, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2024) and their first-ever on-campus NCAA Super Regional in 2022 against Texas.