Buies Creek Astros

Carolina League (2017-2018)

Tombstone

Born: 2016 – Carolina League expansion franchise
Moved: September 2018 (Fayetteville Woodpeckers)

First Game:
Last Game:

Carolina League Champions: 2018

Stadium

Jim Perry Stadium (2,000)

Ownership & Affiliation

Owners: Houston Astros (Jim Crane)

Major League Affiliation: Houston Astros

Background

In August 2016, Minor League Baseball announced a re-structuring of the Class A level. Two farm teams in the California League were contracted, with an offsetting expansion of the Carolina League by two clubs. Kinston, North Carolina, a town with a long history in the Carolina League, received one of the two expansion franchises. The other would go to Fayetteville, North Carolina as a new farm team for the Houston Astros. But Fayetteville’s new $38 million Segra Stadium would not be ready until the spring of 2019. In the meantime, the club would need a temporary home for the 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Enter Buies Creek, North Carolina, a tiny community in North Carolina that is more aptly described as simply the campus of Campbell University. Houston chose Campbell’s Jim Perry Stadium as the way station for the future Fayetteville club. The ballpark was small (600 seats before a modest 2017 expansion), but otherwise largely complied with Class A standards. The Astros outsourced the minimal operations of the team to Campbell University’s athletics department.

Atmosphere & Attendance

Buies Creek was never intended to complete with (or even resemble) other Carolina League clubs from a business standpoint. The Astros drew 30,518 fans for the 2017 season for an average of 517 per game. The league’s next poorest draw was the Lynchburg Hillcats who announced 137,566 fans in 2017. Attendance was 24,068 (359 fans per game) in 2018.

The team’s operations were extremely basic. Buies Creek had no mascot, no corporate sponsor signage in the ballpark, and none of the standard Minor League between-innings shtick. Minor league travel writer Benjamin Hill described Jim Perry Stadium’s no-frills environment, with some appreciation, as “the quietest environment I’d ever experienced at a baseball game” after a 2017 visit.

On The Field

The Buies Creek Astros were a strong club in both seasons of operation. They posted the top record in the Carolina League’s Southern Divison in 2017 with a 74-65 record.

In 2018 the team team finished 80-57. After sweeping the 1st place Winston-Salem Dash in the semis, Buies Creek was due to face the Potomac Nationals in a best-of-five series for the Carolina League’s Mills Cup. But the approaching threat of Hurricane Florence caused Carolina League officials to hastily re-format the championship series as a single-game contest at Jim Perry Stadium on September 11th, 2018.

The championship game headed to extra innings. Buies Creek’s Jonathan Arauz drove in the decisive run with an 11th inning sac fly as the Astros bested Potomac 2-1.

Move To Fayetteville

Meanwhile, 35 miles to the south in Fayetteville, the announcement of Buies Creek’s new identity was scheduled for the following day, September 12th. A Name The Team contest conducted in Fayetteville produced five finalists: the Fatbacks, the Fly Traps, the Jumpers, the Wood Dogs and the Woodpeckers. Hurricane Florence pushed the press conference back to November when team officials unveiled the name and logo for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers.

Trivia

Campbell University is the alma mater of Major League Cy Young Award winners Gaylord Perry and Jim Perry. The University named its baseball stadium in honor of Jim Perry. The school’s mascot, Gaylord the Camel, is named after his brother.