The Peninsula Pilots are an amateur baseball team in the

Coastal Plain League The Coastal Plain League (CPL) is a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball league, featuring college players recruited from throughout the nation. The league takes its name from the Class D level Coastal League which operated in the area from 19 ...

, collegiate summer baseball league. The team plays its home games at the

War Memorial Stadium War Memorial Stadium may refer to: * Ada War Memorial Stadium, in Ada, Ohio, also known as ''War Memorial Stadium'' * War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas), Little Rock, Arkansas * War Memorial Stadium (Austin, Texas) (former official name 1924–1947), ...

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

. The Pilots first started participating in the Coastal Plain League in 2000. The Pilots are coached by Hank Morgan, a former player at Virginia Military Institute and Christopher Newport University.

History

The Pilots moniker derives from the

Peninsula Pilots The Peninsula Pilots are an amateur baseball team in the Coastal Plain League, collegiate summer baseball league. The team plays its home games at the War Memorial Stadium in Hampton, Virginia. The Pilots first started participating in the Co ...

(1963-1992), who were a member of the minor league baseball Class A

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 ...

, who also played at War Memorial Stadium. The Pilots have played in five Petit Cup Finals in their Coastal Plain League existence. They made it to back-to-back Petitt Cup Finals in 2006 and 2007, losing both times to the High Point-Thomasville HiToms, 6-1 and 4-3 respectively. The Pilots returned to the final in 2009 after winning the North Division where they faced the Forest City Owls and lost in two games. In 2013 and 2014, Peninsula broke through and won back-to-back titles, winning 2-0 and 2-1 over Columbia and

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

respectively. The Pilots set a team record for wins in 2014 when they won the second half East title and the top overall seed in the East. The Pilots are tied for the second most league titles in CPL history with the

Edenton Steamers The Edenton Steamers are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Edenton, North Carolina. Beginning in 2020 they will participate in the Tidewater Summer League. 2019 was the Steamers 22nd year as a member of the Coastal Plain League where ...

, Outer Banks Daredevils,

Wilmington Sharks The Wilmington Sharks are an American baseball team in the East Division of the Coastal Plain League (CPL), a collegiate summer baseball league. The Sharks play their home games at Buck Hardee Field at Legion Stadium in Wilmington, North Car ...

, and Forest City Owls, all of whom including Peninsula won their titles in consecutive years. The record is three which is held by the High Point-Thomasville HiToms who won three straight. Hank Morgan is the winningest coach in

history with 378 wins as of the end of the 2019 CPL season. Morgan broke the previous record of 289 wins, held by former Fayetteville SwampDogs manager Darrell Handelsman, on Saturday, July 25, 2015.

Yearly records

2013: First championship

The 2013 Pilots ended the regular season as the 2nd seed in the East behind the

. The Pilots opened the playoffs hosting the 3 seed

. After allowing the Sharks to come back and win game 1 in Wilmington the Pilots won games 2 and 3 to move on to the next round. In the East Division Championship Series the Pilots faced the 1 seed Edenton Steamers who beat the Fayetteville Swampdogs to advance. The Pilots beat their rivals in 3 games to advance to the Petit Cup Championship. The Pilots made their fourth appearance in the CPL's championship series where they played the Columbia Blowfish and won the series in two games. Game 1 was played at home and ended in a Pilots walk-off win 5-4 on Alex Close's RBI in 10 innings. Game 2 was postponed due to rain in Columbia, SC and was shortened to 7 innings to accommodate the if necessary game 3. Game 2 also went into extra innings ending in 8 innings 2-1 on a Jordan Negrini RBI.

2014: Repeat champions

In 2014 the Pilots finished 2nd in the East during the first half after losing the tie breaker to Edenton but used a 20-8 second half run to overtake the Steamers and win both the 2nd half division title but also the number one overall seed in the playoffs. After a first round defeat of the Fayetteville Swampdogs the Pilots advanced to the East Championship where they defeated the

Wilson Tobs The Wilson Tobs are an amateur baseball team playing in the Coastal Plain League, an NCAA-sanctioned collegiate summer baseball league. The team plays its home games at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the ...

to earn a trip back to the title game. In the West the Florence RedWolves won the Division Championship after sweeping regular season titles and they advanced to face the Pilots. After a quiet game 1 loss to Florence the Pilots rallied to win the next two to clinch the title. In game three the Pilots trailed by one before the RedWolves committed three errors and allowed Peninsula to score eight runs which sealed the title. During the season the 2014 Pilots became the first CPL team to defeat the USA College National Team by a score of 7-5 in a game where Peninsula trailed 5-0 after four innings.

Notable alumni

Ryan Zimmerman Ryan Wallace Zimmerman (born September 28, 1984) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman who played 16 seasons for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Zimmerman graduated from Kellam High ...

Buck Farmer George Runie "Buck" Farmer (born February 20, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Detroit Tigers. Early life Farmer attended Rockdale ...

Chad Pinder Chadwick Hudson Pinder (born March 29, 1992) is an American former professional baseball utility player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics from 2016 to 2022. Amateur career Pinder attended Poquoson High School ...

Jake Cave Andrew Jacob Cave (born December 4, 1992) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut with the Minnesota Twins in 2018. Amateur career Cave attended Hampton ...

Jharel Cotton Jharel Leandre Cotton (born January 19, 1992) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. He has previously played in MLB for the Oakland Athletics, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants. Cotton ...

Deck McGuire William Deck McGuire (born June 23, 1989) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played college baseball for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Pitcher of the Year in 2009. He pl ...

* Chris Rowley * John Bowker *

Tug Hulett Timothy Craig "Tug" Hulett Jr. (born February 28, 1983) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. Early life Hulett was bo ...

Darren Daulton Darren Arthur Daulton (January 3, 1962 – August 6, 2017), nicknamed "Dutch", was an American professional baseball catcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (, –) and Miami Marlins, Florida Marlins (199 ...

References

External links

Official Site

Coastal Plain League
{{Hampton Roads Sports Coastal Plain League Sports in Hampton, Virginia Sports in Hampton Roads Amateur baseball teams in Virginia 2000 establishments in Virginia Baseball teams established in 2000