Asheville Tourists (HOU) @ Hub City Spartanburgers (TEX)
June 10, 2026
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
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.
Next ballpark: Erlanger Park in Chattanooga, TN
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