Erlanger Park - Chattanooga Lookouts

Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA) @ Chattanooga Lookouts (CIN)

June 11, 2026

Lookouts 4, Trash Pandas 2

W: Johnathan Harmon
L: Joel Hurtado

S: Johnathan Lavallee

HR: Mac McCroskey (RCT), Zavier Warren (CHA), Ryan McCrystal (CHA)

Attendance: 6,540
Time of Game: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Chattanooga, TN
Opened: 2026
Capacity: 8,032
Level: Double A
League: Southern

After five days in the Carolinas, it was time to start the Southern League portion of my trip.  I drove west to Chattanooga, Tennessee.  Well, I actually drove southwest then northwest to Chattanooga because there is no straight shot route from Greenville to Chattanooga thanks to the extensive mountains separating those two cities.  Chattanooga itself features Lookout Mountain from which the baseball team gets its nickname.  This Thursday night game was the first of seven straight Southern League games I would attend.  As a reminder, I went to a SL game in Knoxville a month earlier.  Over the course of the next week plus, I would visit all of the other seven ballparks of the Southern League, starting in Chattanooga.

The Lookouts moved into the brand new Erlanger Park this season.  While it is indeed a very modern park on the inside, it does not appear as such from the exterior because they made the very unique design decision to build it right into the old industrial neighborhood in which it resides.  The stadium is built right up against a long ago abandoned warehouse along the first base side.  The team store is actually housed within the premises of that building.  The main parking lot is covered with gravel and separated from the ballpark by defunct train tracks.  It is a very unique setting to say the least.  I would be curious to see what this old neighborhood, a few miles south of downtown Chattanooga, looks like in the coming years because this park is just the beginning of a major revitalization project.  As it currently stands though, they already have a pretty cool thing going on there.  The uniqueness of the neighborhood sets the scene, but the interior of the ballpark is quite interesting as well.  It is as asymmetrical of an interior design in a modern ballpark as I can recall.  The first base and third base sides of the seating areas look nothing alike.  On the first base side is just a handful of rows on the lower level leading up to the concourse, while the third base side is a more traditional layout on that level.  The first base concourse features a food hall with several concession options and a full service bar.  Even the group and premium spaces on the upper level are quite different on each side, with a large indoor space behind the second level seats on the first base side and two levels of suites plus a party deck spanning from behind home plate out beyond third base.  The third base upper levels feature a brown, wood-like colored facade that also plays into the industrial motif of the park.  There are a ton of standing room vantage points throughout the outfield, including on the roof of the club situated in dead centerfield.  The entire outfield and well down each foul line feature all sorts of unique group and party areas, with a large berm seating area in left field.  I was very impressed by this park and give the architects a big thumbs up for trying something completely different than its contemporary new ballparks.  The local fans seem to like it as well as there was a huge crowd on hand for this Thursday evening game.

Certain elements of the ballpark weren't the only things that made this game a bit of a throwback experience.  In an extremely rare occurrence in modern minor league baseball, both starting pitchers in this game wound up pitching into the seventh inning.  It was a pair of righties, Joel Hurtado for Rocket City and Johnathan Harmon for Chattanooga.  Both pitched well, although Hurtado's final line wasn't all that impressive as he got roughed up a bit in his last couple innings and perhaps would have been pulled a little earlier if winning this game had been paramount for Rocket City.  The Trash Pandas scored first in the top of the third.  Following a leadoff walk and single, Nick Rodriguez lined a sacrifice fly to center to put Rocket City ahead.  The Lookouts tied it up in the fourth on an interesting sequence of events, starting with a bunt single by Jay Allen.  Following a questionable out call at first, Allen would score on a single by Pablo Aliendo, during which another base runner was nabbed at third.  In the fifth inning, both teams tallied runs on solo homers.  For Rocket City, it was Mac McCroskey lining an opposite field shot just over the wall into his team's bullpen.  That would wind up being the Trash Pandas last hit of the game.  In the bottom half of the fifth, left handed hitting Xavier Warren hit a bomb to right to tie the game at two.  In the sixth inning with Hurtado still on the mound for Rocket City, Lookouts catcher Ryan McCrystal came up to bat with two outs and a runner on first and hit a towering flyball to the left field wall that the left fielder made a leaping attempt to grab but came up empty.  At first glance, it appeared to clang off the wall for extra bases.  But the umpire ruled that it had cleared the fence for a two run homer, giving the Lookouts a 4-2 lead.  Quite an evening at the plate for players with surnames beginning with McCr.  As previously mentioned, both starters remained in the game into the seventh inning.  Once they were replaced, the scoring ended.  Neither team would record a hit against the relievers who covered the final two frames on each side.  In fact, a McCrystal walk would be the only baserunner for either side against a reliever.  Jonathan Lavallee retired all three batters he faced in the ninth to pick up a save, closing out a Lookouts 4-2 victory.

This was my one and only game in Tennessee on this trip, but third different park in the state this year.  Chattanooga, Nashville and Knoxville all have very nice ballparks that I would recommend visiting if you are in that state during baseball season.  After this nice start to the Southern League portion of the trip, it was down to Birmingham, Alabama for the first of an eventual three games in the state of Alabama.

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Next ballpark: Regions Field in Birmingham, AL

Fifth Third Park - Hub City Spartanburgers

Asheville Tourists (HOU) @ Hub City Spartanburgers (TEX)

June 10, 2026

Spartanburgers 21, Tourists 0

W: Brock Porter
L: Yeriel Santos

HR: Yeison Morrobel (HCS), Hector Osorio (HCS), Esteban Mejia (HCS), Maxton Martin (HCS)

Attendance: 4,648
Time of Game: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Spartanburg, SC
Opened: 2025
Capacity: 5,250
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

On Wednesday morning, I made the short drive from Greenville to Spartanburg for an 11 a.m. first pitch at Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg.  This early start time gave me more than enough time to squeeze in two games in the same day, as I returned to Greenville for another game that evening.  This ballpark neighborhood on the edge of downtown Spartanburg isn't quite as built up as Greenville... yet.  There were several cranes visible in the area that is being transformed with tons of new development ongoing.  The uniquely named Hub City Spartanburgers, where the team's location moniker is actually the city's nickname and the team nickname includes the city's actual name, is a very new franchise.

The Down East Ducks relocated to Spartanburg in the brand new Fifth Third Park in 2025.  With this move was also an upgrade to the High A South Atlantic League while fellow Rangers affiliate Hickory was moved down to the Low A Carolina League.  While Hickory was a nice park in its own right, it's easy to see why that swap was made.  Fifth Third Park would have been severely overqualified at Low A.  It's even arguable that this franchise could be a strong candidate to bump up to the AA Southern League should that league eventually add a couple more teams.  This is easily one of the nicest Class A ballparks I've seen.  The ballpark has three entrances, with the main one being near a parking garage in left field.  There is a huge concourse surrounding the main seating areas, particularly right behind home plate.  This concourse features an impressive assortment of concessions, yes, including a full fledged burger bar.  Sadly, I wasn't really in the mood for a burger prior to the morning first pitch.  The lower seating bowl features six sections closest to home plate that have seats made of what I would call office chair material stretching all the way from the field to the concourse.  Perhaps I've seen enhanced comfort seating like this elsewhere in the minors, but not in this quantity.  Down the first base line is a terrace section with plenty of tables and chairs.  No fixed seating in the outfield, but there is a large grass berm in left field that was filled with kids on this particular day.  The second level features several premium seating areas, including plenty of suites and a large club area.  It was a nice, sunny late morning and early afternoon in Spartanburg.  As is typically the case for these summer weekday matinee games, the kid to adult ratio was quite high.  Interestingly, for this game, the PA announcer was sitting right at field level near the visitors dugout.  I wonder if he always does that, or if this was a special occasion.  I would think not if there is any threat of weather as that spot was definitely not protected from the elements.

It was easy to see why Asheville finished the first half of the season with the worst record in all of affiliated minor league baseball.  Turns out, the 16 runs I saw them give up five days earlier wasn't just a product of their small home ballpark and wasn't the worst performance I saw from their pitchers on this trip.  Meanwhile, Hub City made their home park look small, which it really is not.  In fact, I think it may normally play slightly as a pitchers park, though the wind was blowing out a bit on this afternoon.  Yeriel Santos got the start on the mound for Asheville and the first few innings went decently for him before the wheels fell off.  He created a mess for himself in the second by loading the bases with a pair of walks surrounding a hit batter to start the inning.  Esteban Mejia just missed a grand slam as he flew out just short of the wall in center for a sacrifice fly to give the Burgers an early lead.  They then broke the game open in the fourth inning when they scored five runs off of Santos, all coming with two outs.  Yeison Morrobel lined a three run homer into the Hub City bullpen in right, his first High A home run.  Maxton Martin followed that with an opposite field double off the wall near the pole in left.  Then Hector Osorio hit a towering fly ball to right center that the nearest fielder, the right fielder did not see at all.  Turns out it didn't matter though as the ball cleared the fence for a two run homer giving the Spartanburgers a comfortable 6-0 lead.  Meanwhile, right handed pitcher J'Briell Easley got the start for Hub City and cruised through four innings without allowing a run and just one hit.  He was followed by Brock Porter who also pitched four scoreless innings while striking out five.  Both pitchers were extremely dominant but were overshadowed by the Burgers hitters.  The hits kept on coming in the fifth inning as they batted around for the second straight inning.  Chandler Pollard started the inning with a generous triple on a deep fly ball to left that the left fielder misjudged.  Mejia followed that with a towering homer to the berm in left.  The next two batters completed the inning cycle with a double and a single.  Then Maxton Martin hit a two run homer off the scoreboard in right.  Hub City would later tack on an unearned run for a six spot in the fifth inning, blowing the game open with a 12 run lead.  Mercifully, Asheville was able to keep the Spartanburgers off the board in the sixth.  But then Hub City would bat through the order two more times in the seventh and eighth innings, making it four of five innings in which they pulled off that feat.  They scored five runs in the seventh, this time without the benefit of a home run.  Asheville turned to a position player, catcher Freuddy Batista, to pitch the eighth inning.  Unsurprisingly, he wasn't any more effective than the Toursists actual full time pitchers.  He walked four batters as the Burgers were unwilling to chase his floaters.  They scored four more for good measure to close out a three touchdown victory.  Hub City scored 21 runs on 17 hits.  It was a long and ugly afternoon for Asheville as they dropped this one 21-0 to fall to 16-42 on the season.

As mentioned, I went back to Greenville for another game between the Drive and the Winston-Salem Dash that evening, with Greenville picking up another win.  That brought an end to the Carolina portion of the trip.  From there, I drove west to Chattanooga, visiting the first of seven straight Southern League ballparks.

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Next ballpark: Erlanger Park in Chattanooga, TN

Fluor Field - Greenville Drive

Winston-Salem Dash (CHW) @ Greenville Drive (BOS)

June 9, 2026

Drive 8, Dash 7

W: Calvin Bickerstaff
L: Jake Curtis

HR: Alex Ungar (WS), Kaleb Freeman (WS), Isaiah Jackson (GVL), Ronny Hernandez (GVL)

Attendance: 4,648
Time of Game: 2 hours, 29 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Greenville, SC
Opened: 2006
Capacity: 6,700
Level: High A
League: South Atlantic

In my original plans for this trip down south, I was going to slip in a return trip to Charlotte to see the Knights play on this Tuesday night.  However, I changed my mind and decided to stay in Upstate South Carolina for an extra day.  I think this was a good decision because it gave me an opportunity to spend more time in an area in which I had very little prior history.  I've heard a ton of great things about South Carolina as a whole, but mostly about the Atlantic Coast.  I'm here to tell you that Upstate South Carolina is pretty great too.  I thoroughly enjoyed exploring downtown Greenville, which is very walkable with multiple restaurants and shops on virtually every block.  At the west end of downtown is Fluor Field, where on a Tuesday night I attended the first of two games there.

Fluor Field is basically Fenway South.  The playing field is a near replica of the Drive's big league affiliate's stadium in Boston.  There is a large Green Monster wall in left field with a matching manual scoreboard in it to boot.  Right field features a very short right field foul pole with a fence that quickly juts out to a create a spacious right field.  It is a robust 420' at its deepest point in right-centerfield.  Like Fenway, there are seats available at the top of the Green Monster.  But even above that are rooftop seats on the brick-sided office building that forms the perimeter of the stadium in left field.  These seating areas above the left field wall are the only outfield seats.  There is a plethora of seats in the main seating bowl in foul territory though, above which a spacious concourse sits.  That concourse houses a solid selection of concessions, including grab-n-go spots that up to this point I hadn't recalled seeing too often in lower level minor league parks.  There is a large picnic pavilion down the first base line and lawn seating below the kids zone on the third base side.  The second level features additional premium group areas and suites.  Perhaps I have been to a couple nicer High A ballparks than this one, but Fluor Field has just about everything you could want from a lower level minor league park.  And its convenient location with plenty of bars and restaurants in the area are tough to beat.  I'm only going to write about the first game I attended here, but I did make a return trip the following night and thoroughly enjoyed both experiences, even though the losing ways of my White Sox affiliates continued with me in attendance.  There was a very nice sized crowd on hand for this Tuesday evening tilt between the White Sox and Red Sox High A affiliates.

I wouldn't say it had any impact on this game, but one interesting thing I noticed early on is that Winston-Salem was aligning their outfielders in a manner that must have been a specific gameplan for this ballpark with a small left field and massive right field.  Their outfielders were shifted well towards right no matter who was at the plate.  The home team, on the other hand, played it pretty much straight up most of the night.  This game started off well enough for Winston-Salem as it took three batters for this Sox affiliate to exceed the hit totals from the previous two Sox affiliate games I attended.  Caleb Bonemer and Ryan Burrows singled, completed a double steal, and both scored on a single by Kaleb Freeman to give the Dash an early 2-0 lead off of Greenville southpaw Devin Futrell.  They added a couple more in the second inning when nine hole hitter Drew Unger launched one into the Monster seats for a two run homer.  Drew McDaniel got the start on the mound for Winston-Salem.  After being handed that early four run lead, he gave it all back in the bottom of the second, surrendering a pair of two run homers.  The first was a deep drive to right by Isaiah Jackson that just barely eluded the leaping robbery attempt by very tall right fielder George Wolkow.  The second was a towering fly ball into the bullpen in right-center by Ronny Hernandez, giving both teams' nine hole hitters two run homers in the second.  This had to be especially rewarding for Hernandez, who was traded from the White Sox to the Red Sox last winter.  Winston-Salem got the lead back in the top of the third on a home run by Freeman to almost the exact same spot as Hernandez's blast, except in Freeman's case it was an opposite field shot.  Hernandez would get his second of three hits for the Drive in the fourth to knock in another run and once again tie the game.  The Dash immediately retook the lead in the fifth on a RBI groundout by Freeman, his fourth run driven in on the night.  Kyle Lodise followed that with a single to knock in Wolkow, giving the Dash a 7-5 lead.  They had a chance to blow it wide open in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out, but Calvin Bickerstaff came in to pitch for the Drive and put out the fire with a pair of strikeouts.  He would go the rest of the way without allowing any runs or hits.  After failing to tack on in the top of the seventh, the Dash paid for it by giving up the lead for good in the bottom half.  The first four Greenville hitters all recorded hits.  The biggest blow was a line drive double to left by Enddy Azocar, who I saw playing for Salem about a month earlier.  That run scoring hit was followed by a two run single by Yoeilin Cespedes off the wall in left.  While well struck, I'm not sure either of those would have been hits in a ballpark with a traditional configuration and outfield alignment.  But Drive players would be well served to continue to take advantage of their home confines as Fenway plays nearly identically.  Greenville scored three in the seventh to take an 8-5 lead, which was the final score.  Bickerstaff got the well deserved win.  White Sox affiliates dropped to 0-5 with me in the house this year.  At least the Dash were able to record some runs and hits.

For the record, Winston-Salem would go on to lose the following night with me there as well, in a game they trailed most of the night.  That was the second of two games I attended that day as I drove up to Spartanburg for a Wednesday matinee game first.

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Next ballpark: Fifth Third Park in Spartanburg, SC