Coastal Plain League

Lore & Background

The Coastal Plain League was founded in 1997 by Pete Bock, who conceived the idea in the early 1990s while traveling long distances to the Valley Baseball League in Virginia to see his son, Jeff, play summer baseball. Bock, an experienced sports executive, wanted a collegiate summer league closer to his home. He acted on it, and the CPL began play for the 1997 season with six teams. The league has expanded over the years, with the 2024 addition of the Greenville Yard Gnomes being the most recent expansion, bringing the league to 16 teams. On May 24, 2025, Alexia Jorge became the first woman to play in the CPL, which she did as a catcher for the Holly Springs Salamanders. Capitol Broadcasting Company purchased the league in 2022.

Reader's Guide

The Coastal Plain League is significant as a modern collegiate summer baseball league that provides a wood-bat environment for college players from throughout the United States. Its founding by Pete Bock addressed a need for a summer league closer to home for players in the region. The league's expansion from six teams in 1997 to 15 teams by 2024 reflects its growth and stability. The purchase by Capitol Broadcasting Company in 2022 brought corporate ownership. The league made history in 2025 when Alexia Jorge became its first female player. The CPL also maintains a connection to the earlier Class D Coastal Plain League (1937–1952) through its name. Its legacy includes a list of past champions and a history of teams that have moved, changed names, or gone on hiatus, such as the Wilson Tobs moving to Smithfield for 2027 and the Savannah Bananas leaving in 2022 to focus on professional exhibition operations.

The Founding Vision

Pete Bock's path to creating the Coastal Plain League began not in a boardroom but on a long road trip. In the early 1990s, Bock would travel considerable distances to Virginia to watch his son Jeff play in the Valley Baseball League. As an experienced sports executive, Bock recognized a gap: there was no comparable collegiate summer baseball circuit close enough to his home in the Carolinas. That frustration became a blueprint. He set out to build a wood-bat league that would give college players recruited from across the United States a summer competition rooted in the Southeast. The result was a six-team league that opened its inaugural season in 1997, immediately planting roots in the region's small-town baseball culture. Bock's personal connection to the game—watching his own son swing a bat under summer lights—gave the venture a grounded, family-oriented spirit that would define the league's identity from day one.

A League in Constant Motion

The Coastal Plain League has never been a static entity. What launched as a six-team circuit in 1997 has grown to fifteen franchises by the 2024 season, with the Greenville Yard Gnomes marking the most recent addition. The league's footprint now stretches across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia, but getting there involved a steady churn of relocations, rebrandings, and departures. The Raleigh RedWolves became the Florence franchise almost immediately. The Spartanburg Stingers migrated to Forest City and were reborn as the Owls. The New Bern River Rats eventually became the Morehead City Marlins. The Gastonia Grizzlies moved to Spartanburg as the Spartanburgers before suspending operations. Other franchises like the Outer Banks Daredevils and Edenton Steamers left for different leagues entirely, while the Savannah Bananas departed in 2022 to focus on their professional exhibition brand. This constant reshuffling has kept the league's map dynamic and its communities engaged.

Rooted in a Richer Past

The modern CPL did not invent its name. It deliberately borrowed the identity of the Class D-level Coastal Plain League that operated in the same region from 1937 through 1952, a predecessor that gave organized baseball to small towns long before the college summer circuit era. By carrying that name forward, the 1997 league positioned itself as the latest chapter in a decades-long local baseball tradition rather than a standalone novelty. The championship structure also reflects this heritage. The league's postseason is anchored by the Petitt Cup, a title that has carried the weight of the league's competitive identity through its years of existence. Before the Petitt Cup era, champions were determined under a different framework, and playoff seedings have been based on overall records rather than divisional standings. This continuity of naming and structure ties the current wood-bat competition to a broader regional story, reminding fans that the CPL is part of a lineage of Southern baseball stretching back nearly a century.

Milestones and New Ownership

The late 2020s have brought a wave of firsts and structural changes to the CPL. In 2022, Capitol Broadcasting Company acquired the league, signaling a new era of corporate stewardship for the organization. Then, on May 24, 2025, Alexia Jorge stepped onto the field as a catcher for the Holly Springs Salamanders, becoming the first woman ever to play in CPL history—a milestone that opened a door the league had not previously seen. The league's roster of teams continues to shift: several franchises will sit on hiatus for the 2026 season, and the long-tenured Wilson Tobs, a member since 1997, are set to relocate to Smithfield beginning in 2027. These changes underscore that the CPL remains a living, evolving organization. From a six-team startup to a fifteen-franchise league with national ownership and groundbreaking player milestones, the league's trajectory shows no signs of settling into a fixed form.

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