Slippery Rock University Athletics

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Jack Critchfield Park, one of the finest on-campus baseball facilities in the country, is the home of the nationally recognized Slippery Rock University baseball program.

Grand opening ceremonies for “The Jack” were held on April 20, 2002. The event attracted 1,256 fans, which at the time was the second largest crowd to attend an NCAA Division II regular-season baseball game.

The Rock put the icing on the cake by sweeping a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader from Edinboro.

Jack Critchfield Park is named in honor of Dr. Jack Critchfield, a 1955 Rock graduate and former Rock baseball pitcher.

The park, which is also used during the summer months by the Slippery Rock Sliders, a collegiate wood bat baseball team that plays in the Prospect League, features the same infield dirt as many Major League Baseball stadiums. The compound is created by Dura Edge, a company based in Slippery Rock that has installed the field surface for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Philadelphia Phillies, the Boston Red Sox and many other MLB franchises.

Slippery Rock players enjoy the comforts of a luxurious clubhouse that feeds directly into the home dugout. The clubhouse also leads into the coaches offices.

The stadium seats 1,500 people in the chairback and bleacher seats, many of which are covered, while also allowing extra seating on the grassy hillside and in a pavilion down the left field line.

The stadium also features covered batting cages, a press box area that is equipped with wireless internet, indoor restrooms and concession stands.

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About Jack Critchfield: Dr. Critchfield and his wife, Mary, in appreciation for the opportunity he received to attend college, made a $500,000 donation to the University in May 2000. That donation initiated the project that culminated in the construction of the state-of-the-art, 1,500-seat, on-campus baseball facility that bears his name.

Dr. Critchfield’s ties to baseball go beyond his playing days at The Rock, though. He was an integral part of the community effort that led to the successful awarding of a Major League Baseball franchise, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, to the Tampa Bay area of Florida in 1996.

Dr. Critchfield’s involvement in the formation of the Devil Rays was but one reason the St. Petersburg Times stated in a 1998 feature story he was “one of Tampa Bay’s dominant civic leaders.”

Dr. Critchfield is a retired president and CEO of Florida Progress, Corp., a utility company. Prior to joining Florida Progress, he served as president of Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla.; president of Winter Park Telephone and as a teacher.

Dr. Critchfield received his bachelor’s degree from The Rock and later earned a master’s degree in psychological counseling and a doctorate in education from the University of Pittsburgh.

A native of western Pennsylvania, Dr. Critchfield now resides in Clearwater, Fla., with his wife and daughter, Austi.