The Sanford Spinners, a new collegiate level summer baseball team with the Old North State League, will make their debut at 7 p.m. on Monday at Tramway Park at Southern Lee High School.
The team’s name is a nod to a minor league club that played locally at various times between the 1930s and 1950s, and will feature college players from around the region. Players hailing from Sanford include pitcher and University of Chicago Rookie of the Year Drew Bryan, pitcher Elliot Mann, coming off his sophomore season at Methodist, infielder Abdiel Santana, a rising sophomore infielder with Carolina University in Winston Salem, pitcher Carson Kelly, a rising freshman for N.C. State, and infielder Claybourne Cole, a recent Lee County High School graduate who has yet to commit.
Monday’s contest against the Fayetteville Chutes will be the Spinners’ first game, although the season began on June 2, and games are taking place this weekend. The season will run 30 games and last into July, with many of the games being double headers at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Click here for the full schedule. Games will be broadcast online at the league’s website. Game tickets cost $6 ($10 for a double header), but admission is free for children 10 and younger. Get Spinners merchandise here.
The league eventually plans to move the team’s games to Lee County’s recently approved sports complex, which has not yet been built.
Jeremy Palme, who leads the Lee County Yellow Jackets JV squad, is head coach. His father William will serve as assistant coach.