Bainton Field to Host NJ Baseball State Championship Games in 2026

Bainton Field, the home of Rutgers baseball, will host the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association baseball state championship games in 2026, per PJ Potter of NJ Advanced Media.

NJSIAA baseball director Tony Maselli and Rutgers have been in talks for months about moving the championships to Piscataway. Earlier this month, it was announced that the negotiations were successful.

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“Rutgers is centrally located, and the university is making a strong effort to get all N.J. high school state championships to be played on their campus. Adding baseball to the list is great news for us all,” Maselli said in a statement to NJ.com.

The decision to move the state championships to Rutgers coincides with the renovations the university is undertaking at Bainton Field.

The improvements the university has made to Bainton Field in the past few years include a new turf field, stadium lighting, and a new video board in right field.

This off-season, the university went even further, renovating the entire seating section behind home plate and dugouts, installing stadium seating and a raised press box behind home plate. These moves in total will bring the seating capacity up to 1,300.

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For those wondering what will happen with the stadium at Middlesex County College, the Scarlet Knights will split time between that stadium and Bainton Field.

The state championships were previously held in Mercer County for 8 years, and were played in Toms River years before that. The hope is that the state championships will take place at Rutgers for years to come, but that all depends on how this year plays out.

The non-public state finals will take place on June 10, while the public championships are set for June 14. Both events will be free to attend.

With the state championships moving to Piscataway, Rutgers baseball will hopefully have a leg up in landing in-state recruits, as the coaches will have a better chance to see prospects up close while the prospects will have the chance to see the Knights’ facilities in person.