The Coastal Plain League is excited to announce the league’s partnership with USA Baseball and Chinese Taipei for the 2017 summer season. CPL teams and players are set to take on the USA Collegiate National Team and Chinese Taipei over five games in late June.
“We are excited to be able to announce a return to our partnership with USA Baseball,” said CPL COO/Commissioner Justin Sellers. “For seven years out of the last eight, the CPL and the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team have shared the field during the summer; making for an exciting opportunity for our players, coaches, and fans. Eric Campbell and the entire staff at USA Baseball are great to work with, and we’re looking forward to the games with the CNT, as well as a pair of contests with Chinese Taipei.”
For the seventh season out of the last eight, CPL teams will be taking on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. The tour kicks off with the Martinsville Mustangs visiting the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. on June 24, followed by the Peninsula Pilots hosting Team USA in Hampton, Va. on June 25 – a matchup that has resulted in two Pilot victories in past seasons.
“After a year [in 2016] where we didn’t have any games with the Coastal Plain League on the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team schedule, it is my pleasure to once again welcome games versus the CPL – both in their venues, in front of their great fans, and at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina” said Eric Campbell, USA Baseball’s General Manager for National Teams. “The Coastal Plain League has become one of the premier leagues in all of summer collegiate baseball. Games between the CPL and the Collegiate National Team represent the most intense games on our schedule as it is peer to peer. The games will enable the Collegiate National Team to get ready for international competition versus both Taiwan and Cuba later this summer.”
The USA tour will wrap up when the CPL Select Team plays the Collegiate National Team on Monday, June 26 in Cary, N.C. A committee of league coaches, league officials and Major League scouts will help put the CPL Select Team together. The roster will be broken down as follows: catchers (3), first basemen (2), second basemen (2), shortstops (2), third basemen (2), outfielders (seven), and pitchers (6).
Meanwhile, the Forest City Owls and Holly Springs Salamanders will also be hosting the Chinese Taipei team over the course of the week. The Owls are the first to host them in Forest City, N.C. on June 23, while Chinese Taipei will visit the Salamanders in Holly Springs, N.C. on June 25.
The Chinese Taipei Collegiate National Team is a team selected from the best 20 University baseball programs in Taiwan, the team will be the team that will be participating in the 2017 Taipei Universiade scheduled to be held in August. Most of the players in the CT Collegiate team will most likely be drafted at the end of the year in the local Chinese Professional Baseball League at the end of the year, some of them may even be signed by professional leagues from the U.S and/or Japan.
Fans interested in attending any of these games can contact the involved teams for ticket information. USA Baseball (www.usabaseball.com), Chinese Taipei (Forest City Owls (www.forestcitybaseball.com), Holly Springs Salamanders (www.salamandersbaseball.com), Martinsville Mustangs (www.martinsvillemustangs.com) and the Peninsula Pilots (www.peninsulapilots.com).
2017 USA Baseball CNT and Chinese Taipei vs. CPL Schedule
Friday, June 23 (7 p.m.): Chinese Taipei 9, Forest City Owls 1 (in Forest City, N.C.): Box Score Recap
Saturday, June 24 (6 p.m.): USA Baseball CNT 2, Martinsville Mustangs 1 (in Cary, N.C.): Box Score Recap
Sunday, June 25 (3 p.m.): Chinese Taipei 6, Holly Springs Salamanders 4 (in Holly Springs, N.C.): Box Score Recap
Sunday, June 25 (7 p.m.): USA Baseball CNT 6, Peninsula Pilots 3 (in Hampton, Va.): Box Score Recap
Monday, June 26 (3 p.m.): CPL Select Team 10, USA Baseball CNT 0 (in Cary, N.C.): Box Score Recap (Note: Game was final thru 8 innings and then the two teams played the 9th inning under the International tiebreaker rule, and that score was 2-1 in favor of the CPL Select Team.)