Both the Mystic Schooners (NECBL) and the Norwich Sea Unicorns (Futures League) will be playing out of Norwich’s Dodd Stadium this summer.
Dodd Stadium has been home to the Sea Unicorns and its previous MiLB teams in the Eastern League and the NY-Penn League since its 1995 opening. The Schooners had previously called Fitch Field at Groton’s Robert E. Fitch High School home.
“Dodd Stadium gives us a professional ballpark to play our summer ball,” Schooners general manager and pitching coach Dennis Long said via press release. “I want the best possible field for our players. We know it’s going to be a little bit of an undertaking to bring everything we’ve done for 10 years in Groton up to Norwich, but the upside is that we will have arguably one of the best fields in New England as our home field. It should be a fun summer of baseball.”
“After eleven highly satisfying years at Fitch High School, we move on to a new era of Mystic Schooner baseball. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished since 2012 and look forward to the new heights this change of venue will take us,” Schooners manager Phil Orbe said via press release. “Though we will certainly miss the friendly confines of ‘The Shipyard’, our management team, coaching staff and incoming players will all continue to thrive at Dodd Stadium. It is a good day to be a Mystic Schooner.”
Moving from a high-school field to a former Eastern League ballpark is certainly an upgrade for the Schooners. Seating 6,300 fans, Dodd Stadium features 18 skyboxes and an outfield berm. With two teams playing at the same ballpark in what’s a short summer-collegiate season, there will be some creating scheduling, to be sure; the Schooners are already looking at some weekend afternoon games as part of the mix.