Segra Stadium is a

baseball park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

in downtown

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

. It is the home of the

Fayetteville Woodpeckers The Fayetteville Woodpeckers are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and play their home games at Segra Stadium. From 2017 to 201 ...

, a Minor League Baseball team playing in the

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...

. It opened in 2019 and seats up to 4,786 people. The site is immediately surrounded by the

Airborne & Special Operations Museum The United States Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum (ASOM) is part of the U.S. Army Museum Enterprise dedicated to preserving and teaching a public history of the Special Operations and Airborne community, as well as broader United State ...

, Fayetteville station, and the Prince Charles Hotel.

History

Fayetteville lacked minor league baseball since the

Cape Fear Crocs The Cape Fear Crocs were a minor league baseball team in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They were a low Class-A baseball team which played in the South Atlantic League, and were a farm team of the Montreal Expos for the franchise's entire tenu ...

moved to Lakewood, New Jersey after the 2000 season. The team is now called the

Jersey Shore BlueClaws The Jersey Shore BlueClaws (formerly Lakewood BlueClaws) are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Lakewood, New Jersey, and are named for their locati ...

, the Class A affiliate of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. On August 17, 2016, the City of Fayetteville signed a memorandum of understanding with the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

to keep a Class A team club at the ballpark for 30 years. As part of the deal, Barton Malow contracted 83 percent of the construction to local and Small Disadvantaged Business Enterprise contractors. In conjunction with the ballpark financing, Prince Charles Holdings plans to invest $15 million toward renovating the adjoining Prince Charles Hotel into apartments. The company also intends to invest an additional $60 million toward a hotel, 150 residential units, of retail space, and a parking garage at the same stadium site. Groundbreaking took place on August 21, 2017. On February 7, 2019, the team announced a naming rights agreement with Segra, an independent fiber bandwidth company, to call the facility Segra Stadium. A ribbon cutting and tours were held on April 13. The ballpark's first game was held on April 18, 2019, between the Woodpeckers and the Carolina Mudcats. Carolina defeated Fayetteville, 7–5, before a sellout crowd of 6,202 people. Fayetteville

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Enoli Paredes Enoli Norverto Paredes (born September 28, 1995) is a Dominican professional baseball pitcher in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros. Career Houston Astros On Decemb ...

recorded the stadium's first

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s as he retired the first three Mudcats batters on strikes to open the game. The first

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

was a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in the bottom of the first inning off the bat of Fayetteville's

Bryan De La Cruz Bryan Starling De La Cruz (born December 16, 1996) is a Dominican professional baseball outfielder for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021. Career Houston Astros De La Cruz signed with the Houston A ...

. The first

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

was hit in the top of the second inning by Carolina's

Payton Henry Payton Anthony Henry (born June 24, 1997) is an American professional baseball catcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Miami Marlins. Amateur career Henry attended Pleasant Grove High School ...

Other uses

Besides being the home field for the Astros affiliate, the ballpark hosted the Big South Tournament as a neutral site May 21–25, 2019, and plans to do so again in 2021. The 2020 tournament at Segra Stadium was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. From February 28 to March 1, 2020, Segra Stadium hosted the Armed Forces Invitational Baseball Tournament between

Army West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

Black Knights, the Air Force Academy Falcons, and Campbell University Fighting Camels. In the round-robin style tournament, each team played a two-game series with the others over the course of three days. All three teams split both series, going 2-2 on the weekend.

References

External links

City of Fayetteville Minor League Baseball Stadium ProjectFayetteville Woodpeckers
{{Carolina League Ballparks Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in North Carolina Sports venues in Cumberland County, North Carolina 2019 establishments in North Carolina Sports venues completed in 2019 Carolina League ballparks