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| Jim Perry Stadium, 2017 |
Carolina Mudcats (Milwaukee Brewers) vs.
Buies Creek Astros (Houston Astros)
Jim Perry Stadium
Carolina League (A+)
Lillington, NC
7:00 PM
Outside the Game:
Even with a solid night's sleep, it was a lazy morning in the hotel. I had breakfast at the buffet, and then spent time packing up all the formerly wet clothes and gear from the rainout the night before.
Once I was all packed, I made my final decision for the day. Instead of staying in Myrtle Beach for another day to try and get the game in here, I decided to head through North Carolina to pick off one of the new teams. It made for a shorter drive the next day, plus the forecast for Myrtle Beach wasn't all that great again, so there wasn't a big benefit to staying.
I left at about 11:30 AM and grabbed gas, stopping for an early lunch at a Burger King on the road, where a dog sat plaintively outside, staring at me eating my lunch for the duration of my stop, making me feel guilty. I was then out on the road again.
Now, this area of the state is centered around Fort Bragg, a major Army base. One of the main roads through the area runs right through the base, and as I drove up to it, I found it to be closed. Apparently, there was a golf tournament for the brass, and the road through was closed for the duration. This presented a pretty big problem for me, as my GPS kept desperately trying to go through the base road.
I picked a cardinal direction ultimately heading towards my destination and drove on local roads in that direction until the GPS finally gave up trying to take me through Fort Bragg and picked a new route. It was somewhat longer, but I had some time to work with. I eventually checked into my hotel a little west of where I was going, as it was in a slightly larger city and was close to the road I needed the next day. I checked in, dropped off my stuff, grabbed my game bag, and was out on the road to the game.
And I ran into more problems. Following the address for the stadium got me to a Baptist church in the middle of nowhere. I calmly followed my way back the way I came and tried following directions for the college that the stadium was at and drove on the road for a long time without seeing the park. I turned around and drove back and gave up and went into a gas station for directions. They told me I was on a wrong parallel road and showed me the way to go. After driving down that road, I was almost to the end of the college again when I finally saw the back of the stadium. With about forty minutes to go before the game, I parked, bought a ticket, and headed into the game.
The way back was much easier, and I was back at the hotel in under a half hour. I got my stuff together, packed up, got my directions for the next day worked out, and then went to sleep grateful to not be lost in my car anymore.
The Stadium & Fans:
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| Home plate to center field, Jim Perry Stadium |
Jim Perry Stadium is a collegiate baseball stadium primarily for Campbell College, named for MLB alumnus Jim Perry who went to the school. And also, until a new stadium is built downtown, it is the home of the newly relocated Carolina League squad, the Buies Creek Astros (which, as you might guess, is a farm team for the Astros).
It is quite nice and new for a college park, but a bit tiny for a minor league park. The Astros will only be playing there one or two years until they move to the city and change their name, so I grabbed some merch that will be rare, if not valuable. The park had a nice brick facade around it, with the BB&T Bank Gateway serving as the main entrance to the park, right across from the small parking lot. The one ticket booth is just under the iron arch at the entrance. A small fan services stand just through the entrance gives out free programs.
Seats run from third base to first base around home plate, with one row of seating rising up from entry ways at regular intervals along the outside promenade. At the top of the third base seats is the Perry Pavilion, with an inside party area and special seating. Netting rings the entire seating area, so no hope there. The Fighting Camels Press Box sits at the top of the home plate seating area, and a small digital scoreboard sits in right-center field, as a part of the tree-line that covers the outfield wall, only broken up by a college building near dead center.
One small concession stand with super-cheap prices serves the stadium behind first base. A large plaza sits behind home plate for congregations and catch, and there is a standing room area next to right field that seems to be the prime place to grab autographs.
There was no mascot to speak of, at least this night, and the small crowd filled the small stadium. The locals that attended seemed to be into the game, or at least paying attention, which was good, because there was next to no activity or the regular games and contests between innings, which at least had the game moving along at a good clip.
At the Game with Oogie:
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| Hayseed scoring |
Even arriving late as I did, there wasn't a lot to this college park, so I was able to get all my preliminaries done without much ado. At the one super-cheap concessions stand, I got a souvenir soda, a red hot, and a cheeseburger for under $10. So, I was a cheap date that night.
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| Cheap eats |
I had a seat right behind home plate in the middle of the aisle. All the seats, even the nice ones behind home plate, were molded plastic, so it was pretty uncomfortable. There was a decent crowd of locals at the game, and no one that I saw rooting for the visiting Mudcats.
An old dude came in a little late wearing his MAGA hat, and loudly demanding if anyone had a problem with his hat to anyone that would listen or even looked his way. A couple of people cheered him, and most said nothing one way or another. I was a visitor, so I kept my peace, but Jesus Christ, it did not make feel warm and fuzzy about this area of the country.
The Game:
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| First pitch, Mudcats vs. Astros |
The newly minted Astros were facing off against their league rival Mudcats in this early season matchup that did not end up being a pitchers’ duel. The longball played a big part of the game and would factor heavily in its conclusion.
The game started slowly, however, with both teams going in order in the first. The Mudcats started off the second, however, with a double, who made it to third on a ground-out and was driven in with a sacrifice fly to center to stake them to an early 1-0 lead. Buies Creek came back in the bottom of the second with quite a two-out rally. Back-to-back doubles were followed by a homer to left, moving the home team in front, 3-1. The first Carolina batter in the third was hit by a pitch, and then progressed around the bases on a passed ball and two wild pitches to score and close the lead to 3-2. The Astros also worked a base runner around, with a one-out walk stealing second, getting to third on a ground-out, and then coming home on a two-out single to re-extend the lead to two runs, 4-2.
The Mudcats ran the table in the fourth. A leadoff single was followed by back-to-back, one-out doubles and then a triple and a sacrifice fly, leapfrogging out to a 6-4 lead. Unbowed, Buies Creek evened the score with a one-out walk and a homer to center, tying it up at 6-6. Both teams needed a break and went in order in the fifth. In the top of the sixth, Carolina hit a two-out homer to center to make it 7-6, while the Astros went in order.
Not to spoil anything, but Buies Creek went in order for the rest of the game. In the top of the seventh, Carolina turned a leadoff walk, steal, ground-out, and booted grounder to first into another run, went in order in the eighth, and hit a solo homer to left-center in the ninth to secure a 9-6 victory.
The Scorecard:
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| Mudcasts vs. Astros, 08/04/17. Mudcats win, 9-6. |
The scorecard was part of a magazine-paper mini-tabloid free program given out by the gate. The scorecard was part of the center spread, and it was pretty awful. To begin with, it was on glossy paper, which made it very difficult to write on with pencil and decreased its legibility. Further, although it had substitution lines for all the players, each player line had two rows of mini-diamonds, further reducing legibility. Another sin was the fact that scorecard was crammed into about 80% of the space on the page, with 20% taken up a Buies Creek logo, for no good reason. Also, the background of the scorecard was all dark blue, which left no areas for marginal notations at all. Just a bad scorecard, really.
Thankfully, there weren't many interesting scoring plays, because it would be nearly impossible to read or record them on this scorecard. There was a 3-6-1 DP in the bottom of the seventh, and the hit/run/RBI line for Buies Creek was 6/6/6, but that was about how out of the ordinary it got. Also, there was a disproportionate number of homers in the tiny college park (4).
The Accommodations:
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| Hampton Inn |
I stayed at a hotel in Sanford, about a half-hour from the stadium. There were a lot more hotels in the larger town, it was closer to where I wanted to go the next day, and it was more convenient to the roads I needed for the long drive the next day.
It was a Hampton Inn, so it was pretty much exactly what I expected: slightly, but not really, upscale. A large king bed dominated one side of the room, with a small pull-out leatherette couch along the same wall. Opposite was the dresser, desk, and TV. A decent-sized bathroom, with wall-length vanity was off the entrance to the right.
I didn't spend much time there at all, but it got me a good night's sleep before a long drive, so it was all I needed of it.
2017 The Carolinas II & Tennessee
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