First National Bank Field - Greensboro Grasshoppers

Bowling Green Hot Rods (TB) @ Greensboro Grasshoppers (PIT)

May 28, 2025

Hot Rods 7, Grasshoppers 6

W: T.J. Nichols
L: Connor Oliver

S: Jack Snyder

HR: Daniel Vellojin (BG), Mac Horvath (BG), Maikol Escotto 2 (GBO), Lonnie White Jr. (GBO)

Attendance: 5,664
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Greensboro, NC
Opened: 2005
Capacity: 7,499
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

The final game of my North Carolina trip was in Greensboro.  I was supposed to go to a game there on Tuesday night, but the rain that started in the area on Memorial Day did not let up until Wednesday so the Tuesday game was postponed.  Fortunately, that was announced well in advance so I didn't waste my time driving from Durham to Greensboro.  I was also fortunate that there was already an early game on the schedule for Wednesday in Greensboro, which allowed me to get one more game in before I had to drive home that evening.  Of course, the rain didn't actually stop in time for the scheduled 11 a.m. first pitch, so I had to wait out a delay of a little over an hour.  Once the game got underway though, the rain stayed away and the sun even popped out for a bit, the first time I had seen that in a few days.  It was still unseasonably cool though.  First pitch temperature was only 60 degrees.

First National Bank is located in downtown Greensboro, but has a pretty large footprint for an urban park.  The main gate behind home plate is surrounded by a large brick exterior wall with stairs leading up from archways in that wall.  The concourse is quite large and provides a view of the field surrounding most of the park.  Beyond the main seating area on the third base side is private box seating, a large bar, a picnic area and lawn seating stretching out and around left field.  On the first base side is more lawn seating.  Also on that side is a large office building that is actually within the stadium's perimeter.  High rise residential buildings overlook the park just outside the perimeter from right field all the way out to center.  While those buildings are what stick out the most when you look beyond the park, from some vantage points you can also see the downtown skyline.  The upper level is filled with suites and a party deck.  This is another really nice modern ballpark.  It is easy to see why Greensboro was bumped up to High A in the 2021 minor league reorg.  They did so while remaining in the South Atlantic League that swapped levels with the Carolina League.  Many other franchises switched between those two leagues at that time, including Winston-Salem.  Greensboro has been in the South Atlantic League since the franchise's inception.

This was my second straight game seeing a Tampa Bay affiliate, but this time they were the road team.  Despite the damp and cool conditions, the ball was flying on this day.  First National Bank Field does have a reputation as a hitters park due to modest dimensions to most parts of the outfield.  Connor Oliver started this game on the mound for Greensboro but did not make it out of the first inning.  He walked two of the first three hitters he faced, gave up a RBI single to Noah Myers and a three run homer to Daniel Vellojin, a bomb to right that landed on the street outside the stadium.  Then Oliver walked another batter before leaving the game with a trainer.  Not sure what the injury was but he hasn't pitched since then.  Clearly was pitching with diminished stuff this afternoon.  The Hot Rods got out to a quick 4-0 lead.  The Grasshoppers got one back in the bottom of the first on a RBI single off the left field wall by Javier Rivas who was thrown out trying to reach second.  Bowling Green quickly answered back with a solo homer by Mac Horvath on a blast to left that was also a no doubter and not a product of the environment.  Greensboro got in on the home run derby in the third inning.  Maikol Escotto hit a two run homer to left to cut the lead to 6-3 Bowling Green.  Then the Grasshoppers got another one on an opposite field homer to right-center by Lonnie White Jr.  This was the first homer of the day that probably would not have been gone in most parks.  It was a very well hit ball though.  That made it 6-4 Bowling Green.  The teams then traded single runs the next couple innings.  Then in the bottom of the eighth, Escotto hit his second home run of the game, a no doubt bomb to left to the walkway beyond the lawn seating.  That made it 7-6 Hot Rods.  The Grasshoppers did get a couple runners on in the bottom of the ninth, but were not able to bring in the tying run.  Bowling Green won this one by a score of 7-6.

This was a fun game to close out a great trip to North Carolina.  This is one of the hotbeds of Minor League Baseball.  There are a total of nine affiliated minor league franchises in the state.  So I will almost certainly be making another trip down there in the future.  Not this year though.  Most of my remaining stops are in the Midwest as part of the longest and most aggressive baseball trip I've ever done.  I will start writing about that trip soon.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: Huntington Park in Columbus, OH

Durham Bulls Athletic Park - Durham Bulls

Memphis Redbirds (STL) @ Durham Bulls (TB)

May 26, 2025

Redbirds 6, Bulls 1

W: Curtis Taylor
L: Antonio Menendez

HR: Luken Baker 2 (MEM)

Attendance: 5,664
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Durham, NC
Opened: 1995
Capacity: 10,000
Level: Triple A
League: International

After spending the weekend in the Charlotte area, it was up North to Durham for a Memorial Day game.  Mondays are normally universal off days for the minor leagues.  But with this being a holiday, some teams altered their schedules for the week to accommodate a holiday game, including Durham, which is a big reason why I picked this particular weekend to make this trip to North Carolina.  It looked somewhat dicey that this game would actually be played though.  The unseasonably cool streak continued, but with rain added to the mix starting this day and continuing for most of the next 48 hours.  It held off long enough for them to get the game started.  The second half of the game was played in a constant light mist, enough to be annoying but not nearly enough to halt the game.

Durham Bulls Athletic Park is a pretty unique stadium among the ones I've visited.  It is among the older ones, opening in 1995.  At that time, the Bulls were still a Class A organization, like they were in the fictional movie Bull Durham which popularized the franchise to new levels.  They were bumped up to AAA when Tampa Bay was added as a MLB expansion team in 1998 and have been affiliated with that organization ever since.  DBAP is definitely an AAA caliber park.  It combines some old fashioned characteristics with plenty of modern perks as well.  The brick exterior and concourse below the main seating area, with tunnels leading out to the field are some of its classic ballpark features.  While the main concourse is below the seats, there is also a walkway encircling the entire park, bisecting the main seating areas in foul territory.  There is no true upper level seating in this park, which is a bit rare for AAA.  A fairly large roof overhangs a good percentage of the seats, which came in handy for a lot of people on this damp afternoon.  Unfortunately, not yours truly because I had a seat just a couple rows from the field.  There is ample outfield seating in right field, offsetting the lack of a second level elsewhere.  A Blue Monster wall rises above the playing field in left, similar to Fenway's Green Monster.  Except in this case, embedded in the wall is the stadium's only video board.  Putting the primary video board in that location wouldn't work in most stadiums, even those with large walls.  But since there are no left field seats here, it is a uniquely appropriate touch.  There are mixed use buildings surrounding the park beyond both left and right field, which are great architectural fits with the stadium.  The building in left houses the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe, where patrons can watch the game from the patio.  I ate dinner there the following night, when unfortunately there was no game in progress.  One of the lasting nods from the Bull Durham movie is the large mechanical bull sign down the left field line with the slogan "Hit Bull Win Steak".  Unfortunately, nobody accomplished that feat in this game, nor did the Bulls hit any homers to set off the bull's red eyes and smoke from its nostrils.  The popularity of this franchise is perhaps most evident by the size of the team store, the variety of items available for purchase, and the massive number of people in the store at the time I was there.  I haven't seen anything quite like that in my other minor league stops.  They must make a killing off merchandise alone.

As someone who has lived in the Chicago and Washington, DC areas my whole life and went to college at Notre Dame, the string of pitchers used by Durham in this game was quite amusing to me.  The starter was Joe Boyle, who pitched at Notre Dame where he was exclusively used as a reliever because he had trouble throwing strikes.  The three MLB orgs he has been with have all developed him as a starter though and he has made 14 big league starts.  Following him was Antonio Menendez from the DC suburb of Reston, VA.  Next was Garrett Acton from the Chicago suburb of Naperville, IL and the University of Illinois.  Then came Rays' rehabbing reliever Kevin Kelly from Springfield, VA and James Madison University.  All were overshadowed on this day by Memphis starter Curtis Taylor.  The Canadian 29 year old journeyman has bounced around a bunch of MLB orgs over the years and is yet to make it to the big leagues.  He looked great on this day though.  He pitched five scoreless innings against a pretty strong Durham lineup, striking out six batters.  Boyle was surprisingly pulled after two scoreless innings of his own.  I didn't see an official reasoning for this, but I suspect it was precautionary due to his velocity being down a few ticks from the 100 MPH he frequently throws.  He has been pitching on schedule and deeper into games since.  The game kind of fell apart for the Bulls when the side-winding Menendez replaced Boyle in the third.  Michael Siani poked one down the left field line for a leadoff double followed by an infield hit by Thomas Saggese.  Jimmy Crooks got the Redbirds on the board with a double to the left/center gap.  That was followed by big boy Luken Baker slugging a three run homer to center, giving Memphis a 4-0 lead.  It was the first of a pair of homers on the day for Baker, who has had a few cups of coffee in the big leagues with the Cardinals, but had really been struggling in Memphis this year.  In the sixth inning after rain had started to fall, Siani delivered his second opposite field double of the game, this one driving in a run to make it 5-0.  Besides the two doubles, Siani also stole three bases in the game, including two swipes of third, making him the other offensive star of the game for the Redbirds along with Baker.  The Bulls finally got on the board in the seventh on a RBI double by Jake Mangum, who has spent most of this season in the big leagues but was rehabbing in Durham this week.  Another notable Rays rehabber in this game was Ha-Seong Kim who actually made his first official start in the Tampa Bay org on this day and had a pair of singles to show for it.  On the prospect front, MLB.com's #20 prospect Carson Williams was in the Durham lineup, but his offensive struggles continued on this day as he went 0-4 with a pair of strikeouts.  Baker's second home run came in the top of the ninth, a lined shot over the Blue Monster to the Tobacco Road patio.  Memphis won this one by a 6-1 score.

The rain picked up in intensity soon after the game ended.  The following day was a complete washout which limited the amount of sightseeing I was able to do in the Research Triangle region.  The Tuesday night game I had planned on attending in Greensboro was postponed.  Fortunately, they had an early afternoon tilt on Wednesday I was able to attend instead before heading home.

Photo Album

Next ballpark: First National Bank Field in Greensboro, NC

Atrium Health Ballpark - Kannapolis Cannon Ballers

Columbia Fireflies (KC) @ Kannapolis Cannon Ballers (CHW)

May 25, 2025

Cannon Ballers 3, Fireflies 2

W: Kevin Davis
L: Nick Conte

S: Hale Sims

HR: Derlin Figueroa (COL)

Attendance: 2,385
Time of Game: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Kannapolis, NC
Opened: 2021
Capacity: 4,930
Level: Single A
League: Carolina

My first 2025 visit to a stadium I had never been to before was Atrium Health Ballpark in Kannapolis, which is a short drive north of Charlotte where I was staying for the weekend.  So I was able to hop on the road up to Kannapolis for a Sunday afternoon game and returned to Charlotte for an evening game there as well.  With this being the only afternoon game of the trip, it is unsurprising that it was also the warmest.  But the temperature actually exceeded what had been forecasted, so I was a bit warm sitting in the sun with jeans on while temps rose into the mid-70s.  Still relatively mild for late May in North Carolina though.

When Minor League Baseball reorganized in 2021, dozens of teams lost their MLB affiliations.  Most of the casualties were geographically isolated franchises or teams that were playing in facilities that didn't meet modern standards.  The old Kannapolis stadium, which I visited in 2017, probably would have fallen into the latter category, so it is quite likely that their affiliation with the White Sox was saved by the fact that this brand new ballpark was ready to open in 2021.  Atrium Health Ballpark is a HUGE upgrade over Intimidators Stadium (the team renamed themselves from Intimidators to Cannon Ballers at the same time the new park opened).  I don't have a ton to compare it to since this is the first Low A ballpark I have visited these past two years, but it seems like a great facility for that level.  It is situated in downtown Kannapolis, which isn't exactly a sprawling metropolis.  However, this park appears to have initiated a bunch of new development projects in the area.  There is a residential building overlooking right field, the first level of which contains a restaurant and the Cannon Ballers team store.  The park has a very open layout with plenty of space to wander around while keeping an eye on the game as well.  There are picnic areas down both the first base and third base lines and lawn seating available in left field.  The main seating area contains real stadium seats, unlike Intimidators Stadium which was almost all bleacher seating as I recall.  There is also a smallish second level with club seating available.

The White Sox prospect in Kannapolis who I was most interested in seeing, 6'7" outfielder George Wolkow, unfortunately had this day off.  Fortunately, last year's Sox second round pick Caleb Bonemer did play.  He didn't record a hit, but walked a couple times and made a few excellent defensive plays at third base.  The Kannapolis pitchers were the story of this game.  Starter Kaleb Sophy gave up a couple runs in 4 1/3 innings of work.  The three relievers who followed him were nearly perfect though.  Carlton Perkins, Kevin Davis and Hale Sims threw 4 2/3 innings without allowing a run or a hit.  Columbia scored their only two runs of the game in the first inning on a crushed two run homer to right by Derlin Figueroa.  They did not record another hit until a fifth inning single, and finished the game with just those two knocks.  Meanwhile the Cannon Ballers were also stymied by Fireflies starting pitcher Blake Wolters who went five scoreless innings, striking out five Ballers hitters.  Kannapolis finally got the bats going in the sixth after Wolters departed the game.  A hit batter and a walk set up catcher Ronny Hernandez to deliver a game tying two run double over the centerfielder's head.  The game remained tied until the bottom of the eighth.  A single and a walk to open the inning put the Cannon Ballers in a great spot to take the lead.  A wild pitch in a sacrifice bunt situation moved the runners into scoring position.  Then Mikey Kane flared a base hit to left to score a run.  Kannapolis was unable to add anything after that, but the one run proved to be enough.  Hulking reliever Hale Sims, who physically reminded me of former Sox closer Bobby Jenks, retired the Fireflies in order in the ninth to record the save and preserve a 3-2 Cannon Ballers victory.

After seeing a pair of White Sox affiliate losses to open the trip, it was nice to add a win to the ledger this Sunday afternoon.  That evening, Charlotte made it a Sox affiliate sweep for my Sunday doubleheader.  After these games, it was back up north to Durham for a very damp Memorial Day.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC