The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal Plain League which operated in the area from 1937 to 1952.

History

The modern Coastal Plain League was formed with six teams in 1997. The league has expanded over the years with teams across

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and

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, with the 2024 addition of the Greenville Yard Gnomes being the most recent expansion, bringing the league to 15 teams.

Founding

The league was founded in 1997 by Pete Bock. Bock conceived the idea in the early 1990s while traveling long distances to the Valley Baseball League in

to see his son, Jeff, play summer baseball. Bock, an experienced sports executive, wanted a collegiate summer league closer to his home. He acted on it and the Coastal Plain league began play for the 1997 season.

Teams

Former teams

* Raleigh RedWolves (1997, moved to

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) *Rocky Mount Rockfish (1997–98) *Durham Braves (1997–2000, renamed Durham Americans) *Durham Americans (2001–03, formerly Durham Braves) *Spartanburg Stingers (2003–07, moved to Forest City, renamed Owls) *New Bern River Rats (2005–07, moved to Morehead City, renamed Marlins in 2010) * Outer Banks Daredevils (1997, 1999–2011, changed leagues) * Petersburg Generals (2000–2016) * Edenton Steamers (1998–2019, changed leagues) * Fayetteville SwampDogs (2001–2019) * Gastonia Grizzlies (2002–2020, moved to Spartanburg, renamed Spartanburgers) * Spartanburgers (2021, suspended operations) * Savannah Bananas (2016–2022, left league to concentrate on its professional exhibition operation)

Past champions

Petitt Cup years

''Playoff seedings based on overall record, so division champions listed are based on overall record.''

Pre-Petitt Cup

References

External links

Official site
Summer baseball leagues College baseball leagues in the United States Baseball leagues in North Carolina Baseball leagues in South Carolina Baseball leagues in Virginia Sports leagues established in 1997 1997 establishments in the United States Long stubs with short prose {{Virginia-sport-stub