Old North State League's newest baseball team is the Honeycrisps, with Lindsey as coach
In his first year of playing professional baseball, Alec Allred was on his way back home to have surgery and on that drive with his father, the two men came up with an idea for a summer league in North Carolina.
"Our main goal from the beginning was to make a league that was structured with the players' interests at mind," Allred, who is a 2014 graduate of Faith Christian High in Ramseur, said. "We wanted to create a league that guys actually enjoyed playing in."
In the fall of 2018, the Old North State League was born, and since then it has continued to grow and now boasts 14 teams. Now, just three years later, the league has reached the mountains of Western North Carolina, and the newest team joining the league in 2021 is the Hendersonville Honeycrisps. The team will begin play in the summer of 2022, and home games will be played at the historic Berkeley Mills Ballpark.
"Hendersonville has a rich baseball history and an incredible old baseball stadium," Allred said.
Berkeley Mills Ballpark was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. Constructed in 1949 by Berkeley Mills employees, it was the home stadium for the semi-pro team called the Berkeley Spinners, who played from 1948-1961. The stadium has since been used for local youth baseball teams.
Allred said the league also liked Hendersonville's location.
"We also felt with Hendersonville's proximately to Asheville, the local baseball talent would be very strong. All our teams have the same structure in the sense that most of the players on each team will be guys that grew up in the area and that are now playing college baseball somewhere," he said.
While the roster hasn't been officially released yet, the staff has, and the head coach will be a name local high school baseball fans are familiar with. The head coach is Will Lindsey, who is a former West Henderson High standout who went on to play college ball at Anderson University in Anderson, S.C.
Lindsey is a 2017 West Henderson High graduate and was a multi-sport standout, starting for both the varsity baseball and basketball teams. He finished his baseball career at West with a career batting average of .528. He's played for the past four seasons at Anderson and finished his baseball career there with a .272 career batting average. He's currently seeking his masters degree and is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Trojans.
It was a chance phone call that landed Lindsey the job for the Honeycrisps, he said.
"I was actually reaching out to the league commissioner about placing some of our players at Anderson within the Old North State League for next summer and he had mentioned they were adding the expansion team in Hendersonville," Lindsey said on Tuesday. "I had coached last summer in a college league in Ohio and was looking to be closer to home. We discussed me being the head coach and I think both of us thought it was a great fit for the team and the area."
During his high school playing days at West, American Legion baseball was the only option for area college players to play in the summer. The Legion teams consisted of high school and college players. The Old North State League will be for college players only.
"I think that a college summer team in Western North Carolina is long overdue," Lindsey said. "Many players would have loved to play in the area in the summer, including myself. It is a great opportunity to bring something to these players they have never had before and gives the community something to come support in the summer as well. Berkeley Park holds many memories for many people in the community, and I am excited to be a part of an organization that wants to bring that back."
The general manager of the Honeycrisps is Mark Emery, who has been working on the roster and the schedule. Emery is also another name local high school baseball fans know. He played at Tryon High School in 1989 and then played at Mars Hill College from 1989-1994. He was on the Senior Babe Ruth Henderson County State Champion team in 1990 and also played with Lindsey's father, Anthony.
One of the things he worked on first was the team's name and the logo.
"I just told them (the logo and name) needed to tie in with apples," Emery said.
Alec Allred's wife, Lexie, is the designer of the logos and came up with the design for the Honeycrisps, Allred said.
"She designs all of our league's logos," he said.
The schedule will run from the first of June through the end of July, Emery said.
"The only game I know right now is 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 29 against the Lenoir Legends. That is going to be YMCA/Parks and Recreation Day. Most of the other games will be at 7 p.m. If it's a doubleheader it will be 4 and 7," Emery said.
With the team just starting, Emery said it is looking for sponsorships and host families for players who are traveling from far away. Anyone interested can contact Emery at 336-491-0491 or by email at markemery@oldnorthstateleague.com.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Old North State League's newest baseball team is the Honeycrisps, with Lindsey as coach
