Mississippi College Baseball Team Joins Salute to Rice Field House

Mississippi College baseball players and other school supporters gather at the ribbon cutting of the Rice Field House on Thursday September 25 at Frierson Field. The facility on the Clinton campus is named for former MC Choctaws baseball star Mike Rice, an Alabama businessman and MC trustee.

Mississippi College baseball players were on deck to cheer Thursday’s ribbon cutting ceremonies for the Rice Field House.

On a sunny fall afternoon, they teamed with President Lee Royce and Athletic Director Mike Jones to personally thank Mike Rice, the Alabama businessman making the new building a reality on Frierson Field.

“We hit a home run today,” Jones told the crowd of MC supporters attending the September 25 event. The complex, he said, will be a showpiece for MC’s baseball program as the university transitions to NCAA Division II and makes its return to the Gulf South Conference in 2014-15.

No doubt, it will provide a big boost as the Baptist-affiliated university attracts top-notch student-athletes for years to come, Jones added. The MC athletic director and Rice have been longtime friends since their days as baseball teammates on the Clinton campus.

The new brick facility will house locker rooms for players, offices for coaches, equipment storage space and much more.

Mississippi College has fielded baseball teams for 102 years, and now has a first-class facility to spotlight the sport, Royce said. Mississippi College built the complex thanks to a generous gift from Rice, a 1977 MC graduate, former Choctaws baseball star and member of the university’s Board of Trustees.

A member of the MC Sports Hall of Fame, Rice played 100 games during his career with the Choctaws. He batted a solid .332 and was a Gulf South Conference leader in home runs, triples and doubles. At one point, the MC baseball player ranked No. 2 in the nation in home runs.

Those glowing statistics didn’t happen by accident. Rice worked countless hours to improve his game at batting practice. Often, his wife Deborah, a 1975 MC graduate, assisted him in the batting cage on the Clinton campus.

He traveled from his Master Boat Builders business in Coden, Alabama where he serves as president, to offer sound advice to the current crop of Mississippi College ballplayers.

Getting better at batting or pitching, he said, takes lots of hard work. And “in life, you’ve got to work for it,” Rice said.

The south Alabama businessman is thrilled that MC is returning to NCAA Division II after being away for more than 18 years in NCAA Division III ranks. “The Gulf South Conference is fantastic,” Rice said. “It was amazing to be here at Mississippi College.”

In the GSC, the MC baseball team will face such conference rivals as Delta State, West Alabama, West Georgia, North Alabama and Valdosta State starting in the Spring of 2015.

Head Coach Brian Owens, who starts his 9^th season guiding the Choctaws baseball team, joined the tribute to Mike Rice. “We give thanks to the man who made this vision come true,” he said. “This is an outstanding facility.”

In future years,  Mississippi College fans, Owens said, will see future Major League Baseball draft picks using the Rice Field House at Frierson Field.