Harford Varsity Baseball Field – Notre Dame Maryland Gators
- Richard Smith
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Photos by Richard Smith, Stadium Journey
Stadium Info FANFARE Score: 2.86
Harford Varsity Baseball Field 401 Thomas Run Rd Bel Air, MD 21015
Year Opened: 2014
Capacity: 1,000
Another Gator Home
Notre Dame of Maryland University is a Catholic liberal arts college located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1873. It is right next door to the “Evergreen” campus of Loyola University Maryland (which it shares a library facility). It was formerly an all-women’s college, but that ended in 2023 as it is now co-ed. The university has over 3000 students.
The original name of the school was the Notre Dame of Maryland Preparatory School and Collegiate Institute. It also spent many years with the College of Notre Dame of Maryland name.
In 2011, the school attained university status with the addition of several graduate-level programs.
Notre Dame’s athletic teams are members of Division III of the NCAA. All sports but swimming compete within the United East Conference. Although the swim team does not compete within a conference, it participates in the yearly Old Dominion Athletic Conference swim championships.
The university’s sports teams are known as the Gators. The baseball team is very new to collegiate competition. Harford Community College is one of three home bases for the team at this time. They also play home games at Joe Cannon Stadium and the Ripken Experience in Aberdeen, Maryland.
Food & Beverage 1
There technically is no food offered at the Harford Varsity Baseball Field, but with the nearby Wawa convenience store a short walk down the paved path between fields, I count it as the field’s own concession stand. The food offerings vary from hoagies, soup, quesadillas, and hot dogs. And the prices are better than most concession stands.
Atmosphere 2
The grandstand is a very nice set of stands with seat backs that wrap from dugout to dugout. Those seats will be behind a netting. There are also older seating sections further down each line that is away from the netting. If you hate to watch a game through nets you may want to move over there, although you will not have seat backs.
The field is an artificial surface. This includes the infield, which is artificial turf painted brown. Some true baseball fans may hate that, but it is understandable that a community college may want to keep maintenance cost down by using such a surface.
Neighborhood 4
Harford Community College is in a suburban location and has plenty of free parking. The area is safe and has many restaurants nearby. Naughty Dogs is within walking distance and has a fun, cheap bar for pre and post-game refreshments, along with food such as pit beef. If you are in the mood for Mexican, La Tolteca is located just a brief distance away and is a consistently good food place.
Travel into Bel Air and there are multiple chain and local options. Zen 16 Sushi Cafe and MaGerks Pub & Grill are some great options.
A quick drive in the other direction is Aberdeen. Olive Tree is a better version of a well-known Italian chain, while Mamie’s Cafe with Love is an old-school Baltimore-style restaurant that offers free desserts with all meals. Super Chicken Rico is another choice with which you can’t go wrong.
Fans 2
The fans at the stadium are clearly family and friends only. The crowd is bigger than expected because it seems almost half of the roster is from Harford County.
Access 4
Harford is located just a few miles off of I-95, one of the largest highways in the northeast. But State Route 22 can be very crowded with commuters traveling between Aberdeen Proving Grounds (APG) and central Harford County. APG has become a very large Army base after the last round of federal base realignment and closure activities. So leave some extra time getting to the campus. There is plenty of free parking.
Towson University in Northeastern Maryland is a brand new extension campus of the well-established state university that recently opened across from the Harford campus.
Return on Investment 5
Games are free to attend so the return on investment is pretty high. The low cost of concessions at nearby Wawa also make the cost to watch a good level of baseball game pretty high.
Extras 2
The Harford Sports Complex also has two other softball fields, as well as a convertible field that can hold softball and/or baseball games. Harford Stadium, home to the school’s lacrosse and soccer teams is also located next door.
If you get a chance to peek into the nearby APG Federal Credit Union Arena it is worth a visit as this is quite an impressive facility for a junior college.
Final Thoughts
The Harford Baseball Field is an impressive facility that offers high-quality baseball for no cost to the fans. Nothing fancy, but it makes a good stop for baseball fans.
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