As the circuit eyes expansion, Coastal Plain League officials are engaging in talks with Greenville, NC about a team.
During a recent meeting with the city council, CPL commissioner Justin Sellers said that the league is interested in adding Greenville to its mix. This comes as the currently-16-team CPL considers adding as many as five teams by the 2018 season.
Overall, the pitch seemed to receive a positive reception from the Greenville City Council members, who confirmed that discussions about adding the team will continue. The biggest question for some officials and residents is the facility that the team will use. Guy Smith Stadium was mentioned during the meeting, though the city says it wants to consider how the arrival of a summer collegiate team would affect the scheduling of other baseball events at the facility. More from the Greenville Daily Reflector:
“We are not against baseball … we love baseball here,” former Recreation and Parks director Boyd Lee said during the meeting. “We are just asking that the City Council take Guy Smith Stadium off a list where this team would play. This facility is very valuable to youth baseball in this area.”
“I am very much in favor of the Coastal Plains League,” J.H. Rose High School baseball coach Ronald Vincent said Thursday. “But we cannot give up Guy Smith Stadium … it is used almost every night during some months of the summer and we cannot take that away from our young people. To take Guy Smith Stadium away from them would be an injustice.”
The council unanimously approved a motion Thursday to direct city staff to explore the possibility of bringing a summer league baseball team to Greenville and to work with representatives with local baseball programs to make sure a team would not be detrimental to Greenville’s youth baseball programs.
Two key dates for the league’s proposal come at the end of next week. Over the course of January 27-28, the city will discuss the CPL’s concept as part of a planning retreat.