High Point’s new downtown stadium, Truist Point, has been billed as a “multi-use stadium” – however, with an announcement that came on Tuesday, April 13, it becomes even more of a baseball stadium.
The ballpark is already home to the High Point Rockers baseball team.
This week, it was announced that the High Point Hushpuppies – a collegiate summer baseball team that’s a member of the Old North State League – will call the stadium home this season as well.
The Old North State League, now in its third year of existence, uses players from colleges and universities across the nation to field teams. The league’s 12 teams are all based in North Carolina, and each one, including the Hushpuppies, will play a 30-game schedule. So, with the Rockers already scheduled to play their home games at Truist Point, there’s going to be a whole lot of baseball going on in downtown High Point this summer.
The Hushpuppies’ season starts the first week of June and the league’s playoffs begin the last week of July, with the championship game scheduled for July 31.
On Tuesday, April 13, the Rockers didn’t seem to mind another team playing ball on the same ballfield in the same months that the Rockers are highly active.
Rockers Team President Pete Fisch, in fact, said he’s delighted.
“We are pleased to welcome the Old North State League back to Truist Point in 2021,” Fisch stated in a Tuesday press release. “The Hushpuppies will certainly add to the exciting baseball landscape at the ballpark and in Downtown High Point.”
Last year, the Hushpuppies were named the Guilford Lumberkings and the team played its home games at Wesleyan Christian High School in High Point.
In 2020, the team won the league championship. Managed by Brandon Nelson, the assistant baseball coach at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the Hushpuppies will play 15 games at Truist Point this summer.
Alec Allred, the Old North State League’s director of baseball operations, said Truist Point is “the nicest minor league park in the state of North Carolina.”
He added, “Having our teams play at Truist Point is a big advantage when you look around the college baseball summer circuit.”
I attended a boys baseball tournament at Summerfield Athletic Park this weekend, a coach physicality assaulted an umpire! It took several men to subdue him. It was a scary event for these young men and a sorry display of sportsmanship! I feel he should have been arrested for assault and battery. He did leave the field, but sat outside and watched the game. He should be banned from ever leading children of any age. Apparently the parents of the players are okay with this coach teaching their children that it’s okay to physically fight when you don’t agree! I would never allow my child to play on this team! Parents should challenge instructors who are brainwashing their children! God help us all.