Delmarva Shorebirds (BAL) @ Salem RidgeYaks (BOS)
May 10, 2026
HR: Starlyn Nunez (SAL), Luke Heyman (SAL), Kleyver Salazar (SAL)
Attendance: 1,454
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Salem, VA
Opened: 1995
Capacity: 6,300
Level: Single A
League: Carolina
Time of Game: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Stadium Facts
Location: Salem, VA
Opened: 1995
Capacity: 6,300
Level: Single A
League: Carolina
My Saturday night visit to Knoxville was sandwiched by a pair of stops at Single A Carolina League ballparks in Virginia. On my way home on Sunday, I stopped in Salem, VA to see a game at Carilion Clinic Field at Memorial Ballpark. There were a few similarities between the two Carolina League ballparks I visited this weekend that are only about an hour or so apart. First, both teams were renamed this past offseason. In Salem's case, they changed their name from the Red Sox to the RidgeYaks, a change I wholeheartedly support as I think branding teams with their MLB affiliate nicknames is boring and a missed opportunity to celebrate the local community. Additionally, these two ballparks are both situated in sports complexes with multiple stadiums. And both provide views of rolling hills and/or mountains as both cities are situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Finally, they are also fairly old facilities by current minor league standards.
Carilion Clinic Field is actually significantly newer than its Lynchburg counterpart having been built in the early 90s, but I'm not sure it really feels much newer inside as it doesn't have a lot of the more modern design elements. When you enter the ballpark, you are immediately upon the main concourse that is well above field level. That concourse runs underneath the upper level of seating, and also serves as a walkway between the second and third seating levels on the interior. Each of the three seating levels combine to form what is basically a continuous incline up to the top of the stadium. While I did not walk up to the top rows of the grandstands, I've got to think those seats are about as far away from the field of play as any I've encountered in the minor leagues. On this particular afternoon with a small crowd on hand, it made for a rather cavernous feel to the park. I imagine my impression would have been much different with a bigger crowd. There are no outfield seats in this park and the grandstands end just a little beyond first and third base on each side. There is a picnic area further down the third base line though. A few sections of drink rails with stools bookend the lower levels and there are tabletops with chairs scattered throughout the main concourse. Personally, I wasn't a fan of their game presentation. The previous night in Knoxville, I took note of what I felt was an excessive use of the sound machine seemingly after every pitch. Well, Salem took it to a new level. What I found especially annoying is that the audio clips they played often seemed to have no context with what was happening on the field. They also frequently flashed full screen photos on the video board in right field that I think were random photos of players on the opposing team, perhaps from their personal Instagram accounts. I assume it was an attempt to humorously distract those players, but I found it to be a tad amateurish. I'm sure other people got a kick out of it though. The fact that it was such a small crowd for this game maybe didn't help either. This warm and sunny Sunday afternoon game was on Mother's Day, so the size of the crowd was understandably reduced.
As I'm quickly coming to understand, the quality of baseball at the Low A level can be pretty rough. Almost everything about this game was rough from a Delmarva perspective. They did score first though thanks to Salem's quick bout of sloppiness. RidgeYaks starting pitcher Leighton Finley struck out the first two hitters he faced. But consecutive errors on a dropped pop-up and boxed line drive allowed a run to score to put the Shorebirds up early. They would never lead again as the RidgeYaks scored a pair in the bottom of the first. Delmarva starting pitcher Brayan Orrantia surrendered three straight singles in the first, the second of which was booted in left field by Junior Aybar and then thrown wildly back into the infield, the start of a really rough afternoon in the field for him. Salem catcher Luke Heyman followed that with a RBI single to left during which Aybar fell down trying to throw back to the infield, allowing Heyman to reach second. Salem really broke open the game in the second inning, with the Delmarva defense once again giving an assist. A one out popup to shallow left led to Aybar colliding with shortstop Edwin Amparo, with the ball dropping for a two base error on Amparo. Orrantia can't totally blame his defense for that inning though because he got hit hard once there were two outs. Starlyn Nunez crushed a home run to right to give the Yaks a 4-1 lead. Enddy Azocar followed with a triple to the left-centerfield gap. Andrews Opata knocked him in with a single up the middle. Then Heyman crushed a no doubt home run over the tall wall in dead centerfield where the fence distance is listed at 403. This gave Salem a 7-1 lead and knocked Orrantia out of the game. Fortunately, the defenses were much cleaner after the first couple innings. The Delmarva pitching staff continued to struggle though. Their hefty lefty Riley Cooper had a rough fourth inning. After a pair of walks around a single and then two outs, Cooper faced Salem first baseman Kleyver Salazar with the bases loaded. Salazar launched a grand slam into the trees well beyond the left field wall. That gave the RidgeYaks an 11-2 lead. Meanwhile, Finley did a nice job pitching to the score. He got through five innings allowing a pair of runs, only one of which was earned. A few more inconsequential runs were scored after that. I was just glad that Delmarva didn't need to resort to using a position player to pitch the last couple innings as often happens in blowouts like this, and especially on Sundays when pitching staffs may be running short on available hurlers. The RidgeYaks won the game by a final score of 13-3.
That brought 2026 trip number two to a close. While I put a decent number of miles on my car during both of those weekend trips, it pales in comparison to the huge trip down South I have coming up in June. I'll spare the details for now other than to say its almost certainly the most ambitious trip I've ever planned. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. Stay tuned for all of that.
Next ballpark: L.P. Frans Stadium in Hickory, NC
