Statesville Owls - Open Night has finally arrived

The inaugural season of your Statesville Owls has finally arrived and you won’t want to miss one minute of the action. Our season home opener is TONIGHT against Fort Mill’s Carolina Sting, game time 7:00 p.m., gates open at 6:00. Bring the entire family and enjoy some great baseball, great food and don’t forget HOOTY who will be leading the cheering section and taking photos with all of the kids. This is your opportunity to see some of the top college player and future MLB stars from around the country.
You may purchase your tickets by visiting our website at: www.statesvilleowls.net or if you are in Downtown Statesville you can purchase them at Groucho’s, our official Owls Ticket Seller. Gates open 1 hour prior to the game to meet the players, autographs and batting practice.
Adults: $5.00
Students/Seniors: $4.00
Kids 12 and Under: FREE
All of our home games will be played at Statesville High School located at 474 North Center Street just a few blocks away from downtown Statesville.
TBR - Thanks for all your Support and Encouragement and we will see you all at the ballpark.
GO OWLS!!!!!!!!!
2010 Home Schedule
June 1 Fort Mill at Statesville 7:00 pm
June 4 (DH) Johnson City at Statesville 5:00 pm/7:30 pm
June 9 Morganton at Statesville 7:00 pm
June 11 (DH) Lake Norman at Statesville 5:00pm/7:30pm
June 16 Spartanburg at Statesville 7:00 pm
June 18 (DH) Clemson at Statesville 5:00 pm/7:30 pm
June 23 Asheville at Statesville 7:00 pm
June 25 (DH) Spartanburg at Statesville 5:00 pm/7:30 pm
June 30 Lake Norman at Statesville 7:00 pm
July 3 (DH) Morganton at Statesville 5:00 pm/7:30 pm
July 5 Johnson City at Statesville 7:00 pm
July 10 (DH) Ashville at Statesville 5:00 pm/7:30 pm
July 12 Clemson at Statesville 7:00 pm
July 17 (DH) Fort Mill at Statesville 5:00 pm & 7:30 pm

 

Just got throught raining like crazy for about 30 minutes here in Statesville. Don't know how the field looks.

 

Win opener 5-4

http://www2.statesville.com/content/2010/jun/01/owls-earn-dramatic-win-season-opener/news-local/

 

A year ago I posted a thread asking our TBR members if they were interested in owning a Summer College Baseball team. Last night the dream came true. There are 9 partners in this venture and each one is part of the TBR family.

But no matter how many people are involved with something like this, there are certain people that become the driving force to ensure the success of a new business...and the Statesville Owls' organization was no different. Each partner brought a skill to the team from marketing to management to accounting and I found that the mix in strengths became very important for us to make it to last night. The partners I'm mentioning worked tirelessly since September to make this happen and since they are all TBR members, I wanted to express my sincere thanks in what they accomplished.

Jeff May- as the team's President, Jeff was the driving force to make this happen. He kept the egos of 9 different adults in check and in focus. Whenever we would get off track about something unimportant, Jeff reminded us of the priorities and made sure we kept "our eyes on the prize."

Hugh McBride- serving as the General Manager of the team, Hugh was responsible for evaluating the talent and staffing our roster. While every collegiate summer team was through with their roster by September, we were just starting. Hugh's reputation and contacts with the college coaches as well as knowing virtually every player that ever played in NC allowed us to quickly catch up to our competitors in talent. For those that know Hugh, you realize this is the perfect person for this position. He comes across as that easygoing country boy that is unflappable. But closely beneath that exterior is one of the most competitive people I know. After he knocks you down, he will smile and help you up while asking how your family is doing.

Keith Bray- every business group must have that one person that will say no. Keith is that man for us. While everyone wants to give everything away for free or spending extra money not in the budget because we believe it will help promote the team, Keith is our gatekeeper. I believe he plays the most important role on the team because he is willing to say no to people who are used to hearing yes. And although he is an accounting guru, he also has one of the brightest baseball minds that I know.

Brian Suarez- affectionately called “Statesville Suarez”, Brian is Mr. Everything in Statesville. If you need something or need to contact someone in Statesville, Brian is the man you go to. Everybody in Statesville is related to Brian…and if they aren’t related, they live in his neighborhood. Seriously, Brian has more enthusiasm than any two people that I know. He hasn’t met a challenge that he won’t tackle. When everyone is frustrated and debating whether to do something or not, Brian is the first one to say, “I’ll do it!” He’s that brother that drives you crazy because he’s always into something, but you love him anyway because you know he means well.

Rich Hammond- Rich is the EF Hutton of the team. When Rich speaks, everyone listens! Everyone has their own ideas of what to do, but Rich is the one that always has the clear vision of what must be done. And he does it in a way that is accepting by others.

David Henderson- David lends his expertise in being a successful businessman to the team. He’s the wizened veteran that tolerates the craziness of owning a baseball team, as long as it doesn’t interfere with our goals. He’s the consigliore of the group; the one guy everybody goes to for advice.

The reason I mentioned all these guys is because they are like everyone else on TBR. The all share a common attribute. A bunch of Dad’s that have kids playing baseball; they love the game and they want to give back

I’m so proud of these guys for seeing a vision come to fruition. In front of a SRO crowd last night, they received their thanks for a job well done. The weather was perfect, the crowd exceeded expectations and the team won in dramatic fashion. Just as we planned

By the way, as the game ended, the players didn’t go into a post game meeting with the coach. No, they went to the exits and thanked all the fans that attended and signed autographs for starstruck kids----a beautiful sight!

 

Thank You!!!!

Thanks Braves:
It was truely a great night. Great Baseball! Great Fans!! Great food!!! Perfect Night!!!! But it doesn't stop there especially with the SCBL 2009 Champions (Tennessee Tornado) coming to town for our first Double Header Friday, June 4th. Gates open at 4:00, first game starts at 5:00.
As a special Thank You to all our fans and friends we are having a Statesville Owls Fan Appreciation event Sunday, June 6th from 1:00 - 4:00p.m. at the Courtyard by Marriott located at 1530 Cinema Drive Statesville, NC. Come and meet all the Owls player and HOOTY.
Collect autographs, take pictures and enjoy FREE Hot Dogs and Hamburgers as our way to say thank you for all your support. For additional information call: 704-872-2288.

 

Did the Owls win tonight at Fort Mill ? For all this promotion of the Owls it is difficult to find any information (box scores, stats, etc.) on them. The website has no scores, stats, game photos, etc. I don't even think the roster is correct. A much improved website would be helpful.

 

They won 13-1 I was told.

The link below shows the box scores of each game in the SCBL. This should help in the mean time.

http://www.scbl.org/viewpage.asp?key=10215

Click on the results box for the game.

 

Thank you for your response, jman. That type of feedback is helpful for a team in their inaugural season. It is something that we are aware of and is being addressed quickly. We hope to have it corrected immediately. This is a general response because I want others to understand what it’s like to get started.

There are a lot of responsibilities in this league and being a non-profit organization demands that we rely on volunteers for our help. Although we are striving for perfection, please keep in mind there are no full time paid employees. Our priority has always been to provide another opportunity for college kids to have a place to play and have a great experience in doing so.

To shed some light of what it is like to participate in a summer college baseball team, here are just a few things that we do.

- We perform all field maintenance before and after the game. This is not done by an outside or contracted park & recs dept.
- We provide a person to broadcast all games on the internet
- We provide an announcer and scorekeeper for all games
- We must provide a statistician that uploads all game stats to the SCBL
- We must have a ticket seller
- We must have people to work concessions
- We have a mascot (person is usually a partner)
- We must have a general manager that is responsible for many duties mandated by the league that go beyond just routine activities.
- Although this is shared duties, building a relationship with host families, especially in the beginning of an inaugural season, requires a lot of attention before, during and after each game.
- We spend time with players after each game thanking every fan leaving the game. Then start on clean up of stands, concessions and ballfield. We start our day at 2:00 pm for a 7:00 game and not getting home until after midnight.

These are just a few things off the top of my head that we do. I know there are many other things on a day-to-day basis, from coach and player needs to fan’s needs that require immediate attention. Although we all try very hard to do the very best we can and we are very dedicated to bringing a great experience for our players and fans that attend our games, we are all volunteers that have families and jobs.

I really am sorry that we don’t have our website up-to-date and it is something that we are working on, and we do have a person doing that, too. He was the one taking pictures at the game and those pictures were posted on the website (that he designed and built.) We believe the community of Statesville will support our efforts as a non-profit group and will volunteer to help us with the Owls. But we’ve only been a neighbor for one game and it takes time to build relationships.

As I said, our initial priorities were revolved around the responsibilities of the team, host families, schedules and preparing for the first game: Then analyze what we need to address immediately. We are cognizant of the importance of a relevant website, since many of us have kids that play summer baseball, and will ensure it does become relevant.

Thank you for your reply because we take all criticisms seriously. We really do want to do the best job that we can.

 

You are to be commended for your dedication, scarifices, and commitment. Operating a SCBL team is no small undertaking and you all have taken the bull by the horns approach. There will always be improvements to be made, but you are off to a fantastic start; including winning your first two games! Good Luck in the future, except when you play that snake team down the road.

 

I can only imagine how much work it takes to field a team like this. You are to be commended for all your work. Look forward to the photos and improvements on the website. I was just hoping to keep more up to date with the website.

Finally, with this being a non-profit group and as you said everyone being is a volunteer, I'm guessing the coaches are not paid like the players and basically coach to gain experience for future jobs. Is that correct ?