Forest City Owls

Lore & Background

The Forest City Owls began play in 2008 after the franchise relocated from Spartanburg, South Carolina, where it had been known as the Stingers. The team's home stadium, McNair Field, was built near downtown Forest City using town funds, private contributions, and over $1 million in donations from Robert C. McNair, a Forest City native and owner of the NFL Houston Texans. The Owls won their home and season debut on May 29, 2008, defeating the Gastonia Grizzlies 4–2 before 2,675 fans; McNair threw out the first pitch, and the Owls turned a triple play in the top of the sixth inning.

In 2009, the Owls won the Coastal Plain League championship with a combined regular-season and postseason record of 51–9. Their 22–2 start, 24 first-half victories, 25 home wins, and 46 regular-season wins all set CPL records. The team was voted the No. 1 collegiate summer team in the country by pgcrosschecker.com. On January 27, 2011, USA Baseball selected the Owls to host Team Japan on July 1, 2011; over 3,700 fans attended that international game, the first ever at McNair Field, though the Owls lost 8–1.

In September 2015, Ken Silver sold the Owls to Phil Dangel of Knoxville, Tennessee. The team did not compete in the 2020 season due to COVID-19 restrictions in North Carolina.

Reader's Guide

The Forest City Owls represent a successful franchise in collegiate summer baseball, notable for their record-setting 2009 season and their role in hosting an international game against Team Japan in 2011. The team's move from Spartanburg to Forest City and the construction of McNair Field, funded in part by NFL owner Robert C. McNair, illustrate community investment in baseball. The Owls have produced four Major League alumni: lefty pitcher Josh Edgin, right-handed reliever Heath Hembree, infielder Vince Belnome, and righty pitcher Spencer Patton, all of whom played during the 2008–2009 championship era. The franchise's ownership transition from Ken Silver to Phil Dangel in 2015 and its absence in 2020 due to COVID-19 reflect broader trends in minor and summer league baseball. The Owls' 2025 postseason run, though ending in a sweep, marked their first Petitt Cup Championship appearance since 2010, underscoring the team's enduring competitiveness.

Did You Know?

• The Owls turned a triple play in their debut game on May 29, 2008.
• Robert C. McNair, owner of the NFL Houston Texans, donated over $1 million to build McNair Field.
• The Owls were voted the No. 1 collegiate summer team in the country in 2009 by pgcrosschecker.com.
• The Owls hosted Team Japan on July 1, 2011, the first international game at McNair Field.

A Father's Long Drive to the Ballpark

Pete Bock, a seasoned sports executive, spent the early 1990s making grueling trips to Virginia to watch his son Jeff play summer baseball in the Valley Baseball League. The distance was a constant frustration, and it planted a seed: what if a quality collegiate summer league existed closer to home? That personal inconvenience became the blueprint for an entire organization. Bock acted on the idea, and the modern Coastal Plain League opened its doors for the 1997 season with six founding teams. The league's format centers on wood-bat baseball featuring college players recruited from across the United States, giving student-athletes a competitive summer platform. The name itself is a nod to history, honoring the Class D level Coastal Plain League that operated in the region from 1937 to 1952. What began as one father's desire to shorten a drive evolved into a multi-state institution that would eventually span four states and grow to fifteen franchises.

From Six Franchises to a Four-State Network

The CPL's growth trajectory tells a story of steady expansion and constant reshuffling. Starting with just six teams in 1997, the league has gradually spread its footprint across North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. The 2024 arrival of the Greenville Yard Gnomes marked the most recent addition, pushing the total to fifteen franchises. Along the way, the league's roster of teams has been remarkably fluid. The Spartanburg Stingers, for instance, relocated to Forest City and became the Owls. The New Bern River Rats moved to Morehead City and were rebranded as the Marlins in 2010. The Gastonia Grizzlies shifted to Spartanburg as the Spartanburgers before suspending operations after 2021. Other franchises like the Outer Banks Daredevils, Edenton Steamers, and Fayetteville SwampDogs eventually changed leagues entirely. The Wilson Tobs, a mainstay from 1997 through 2025, are set to relocate to Smithfield for 2027. This constant evolution reflects a league that has never been static.

Ownership, Innovation, and Breaking Barriers

The CPL's recent years have been defined by both corporate investment and historic firsts. In 2022, Capitol Broadcasting Company acquired the league, bringing a major media and broadcasting organization into the fold and signaling a new era of professional management. Then, on May 24, 2025, Alexia Jorge made history by becoming the first woman to take the field in CPL competition. She suited up as a catcher for the Holly Springs Salamanders, a milestone that opened a door no one in the league's nearly three-decade history had walked through before. These developments sit alongside the league's ongoing commitment to its core identity: a wood-bat, collegiate summer baseball circuit where college players from across the country get a chance to compete at a high level during the off-season. The combination of corporate backing and inclusive progress suggests the CPL is positioning itself not just as a regional summer league but as a forward-looking institution in amateur baseball.

A Name Carried from the Past

The Coastal Plain League's identity is rooted in a lineage that stretches back nearly a century. The modern organization, launched in 1997, deliberately adopted the name of the Class D level Coastal Plain League that operated in the region from 1937 to 1952. That earlier league represented a different era of minor and semi-professional baseball in the Carolinas and Virginia, a time when wood-bat competition at that level was a common rung on the ladder toward the majors. By reviving the name, Pete Bock and the founding group connected their new venture to a tradition of local, community-centered baseball that had thrived in the region for over a decade. The modern CPL carries that heritage forward in a different form—collegiate rather than professional, summer rather than full-season—but the geographic and cultural DNA remains the same. The league's championship trophy, the Petitt Cup, further anchors its identity in the region's baseball history, creating a through-line between the 1940s and the present day.