Summer collegiate wooden bat league baseball, for my time and money, is the number one baseball experience on my baseball schedule every year. If I have a choice between several baseball experiences that fall on the same day, summer collegiate baseball wins out nearly every time with very few exceptions. Back in New England, I went to hundreds of games from Cape Cod to Martha’s Vineyard to South Kingstown to Newport to Brockton and loved every single inning of every single game. And after relocating to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, I quickly scanned the internet for summer collegiate leagues and found, amongst others, the Coastal Plain League’s Peninsula Pilots, located just a short drive from me in Hampton, VA. And what a find it was!

My wife Rachel and I attended several night baseball games at Hampton’s War Memorial Stadium, home of the Peninsula Pilots. Every game was exciting, great crowds, loud fans, great baseball, tons of entertainment, just an awesome evening of summer collegiate baseball. The Pilots put up historic numbers all season, the play on the field was incredible, and the price of ticket vs value was just so ridiculously positive. After the season ended, I vowed to reach out to the team to learn more about the players, the staff that runs the ship, and the history and present of the Pilots.

And I got that chance in November. I took the short drive to an off season War Memorial Stadium and met up with Aiden Caldwell, Director of Media Relations and Perry Woods, Director of On-Field Gameday Operations, who were working in the Pilots office. We had a spirited conversation, mostly off the record, about the Pilots, their history and plans for 2025. It was great to meet Aiden and Perry, who both wear many hats in the front office of the Pilots, and I thanked them for allowing me listen in on their baseball stories. I followed up with Perry on a few topics he hit on during our impromptu meeting and here is what I learned about Perry Woods:

Where did you get your start in baseball?  Was it early on as a child/teen or did your involvement in baseball happen later in life?

Perry –  I was born into baseball.  My maternal grandmother (Sandra Pickin, you can find a lot about her and the Peninsula baseball community from The Daily Press, Virginian Pilot, even Wavy10 News) started a local fundraising baseball tournament for our local chapter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association called the Peninsula Muscular Dystrophy Benefit Baseball Tournament back in 1979.  I wasn’t born until 1986 but I was going to play baseball.  It had four age divisions, 10-12, 13-15, 16-18, and 19+.  I had been playing tee-ball and machine pitch baseball when my grandmother was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma or kidney cancer.  She then added a younger division of 7-9 because she never had a member of her family participate in the tournament.  She got to watch me play in the tournament when I was eight and she passed away in February of 1997.  My mother took over the tournament until 2014.  Coincidentally, the MD tournament is when I began PA announcing for the 7-9 age division when I was 16 years old.  I remember announcing for future Peninsula Pilots Players as well as MLB players such as Jake Cave and Chad Pinder when they were eight and nine year olds. Throughout my childhood and into my high school years I played both baseball and basketball.  Once high school came around I couldn’t keep up in basketball so I stopped playing but I never stopped loving the game.  I played baseball through my senior year of high school and had a few colleges reach out to me to play collegiately but I wasn’t interested in furthering my baseball career and decided to “hang up the spikes”.

What roles have you played in sports?  Any particular role a favorite of yours?

Perry – Other than playing the actual sport, I’ve been a PA announcer, Broadcaster, Emcee for on field games, and most recently working with the Pilots to find new sponsorships and upgrade the way they do business.  My favorite role has always been the PA announcer.  There’s always a satisfaction in bringing energy to a live crowd of people whether it’s 50 people or 17,000 people.

What is the most important aspect of announcing a baseball game?

Perry – In all of the years I have been a professional PA announcer beginning in 2005 at 19 years old, and this will actually be my 20th year as I turn 39 on February 5th, the most important aspect of announcing a baseball game or any game whether it be basketball, volleyball, football etc… is the fans.  Talking in a clear and concise manner while adding energy to help boost the home crowd therefore giving life to the home team is a big responsibility for the PA announcer.  I’ve never wanted to take attention away from the players but exaggerate their achievements on the microphone to get the crowd excited and behind the player or home team.

How do you stay motivated if the game is lopsided one way or another?

Perry – The way I stay motivated on the mic, even if the home team is down 15 runs, is simply because the team has paid me to do a specific job and I intend on delivering.  The most recent example of this was in December 2024 I was announcing a women’s basketball game between Hampton University and East Carolina University at Hampton.  Hampton ended up losing by 39 points but I kept up the energy until the end.  The Athletic Director took notice and said, “thanks for keeping the girls spirits up.” 

What is the craziest play you ever saw covering a game?

Perry – I have seen a lot of crazy plays in 20 years.  Up until a few years ago, I had never seen a “walkoff” in football to win the game (let alone in overtime).  From 2016-2020 my wife and I were living in Astoria, Queens and I had become a PA announcer for many of the universities in New York City.  In 2019 I was asked to announce Columbia University football.  It was later in their season hosting Harvard, their largest rival, and the game went to overtime. In college football, each team gets at least one possession.  Columbia received the ball first and scored a touchdown on their first possession.  Harvard must score a touchdown to bring the game into a second overtime.  The first Harvard play in overtime the quarterback throws the ball into the endzone.  Out of nowhere a Columbia defender jumps up and intercepts the pass keeping a toe inbounds and ends the game giving Columbia their first win over Harvard since 2003.  I of course am being loud and energetic on the microphone explaining to the fans that the game is over and that Columbia defeats Harvard in overtime.  That was definitely up there in “crazy” plays I’ve seen while on the mic. 

Who is the best pitcher, hitter you ever saw covering a game?

Perry – One of the best players I saw (and got to know) announcing baseball was Anthony Shawler when I was announcing baseball for Old Dominion University.  He was a pitcher and outfielder in 2006-2008.  When he pitched, he threw mid to upper 90’s and when he was hitting, he could hit for contact and for power as well as a good base runner.  He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in 2008.

Do you have to know a ton about baseball or sports in general to be a quality announcer?

Perry – When announcing a sport as a PA announcer, I would say you don’t have to know everything there is to know about the sport but you do have to do some homework to get the correct lingo, when to announce, when not to announce, and just the basic feel of the game.  I was first asked by Christopher Newport University in 2015 to announce their volleyball season.  I studied the sport, studied officials and went to several high school matches to get the flow of the match.  I ended up doing a great job.  So much that Long Island University Brooklyn and St. John’s University asked me to announce volleyball for them when my wife and I moved there.

Do you typically work solo or do you have a sidekick or two when announcing a game?

Perry – For most PA announcing jobs you work solo.  The only two sports I ask to have someone with me is a spotter for Football and Soccer.  A spotter is someone who is watching the game with binoculars and can call out the numbers of the players during plays so I can announce them in a timely manner.  And if anything is on television, usually a producer is sitting with me counting me in after commercials or when the game is going to commercials so I can time my script reads correctly.

What is the best part of summer collegiate baseball there in Hampton?

Perry – The best part of summer baseball is the family fun atmosphere.  While the home team wants to get the win (for themselves and the fans) the families and fans are really who we are catering to.  You can see that with goofy between inning games and allowing fans to take the microphone to sing “take me out to the ballgame”.

What is your take on the Cosmic Baseball experience that seems to be the new hot thing in baseball?

Perry – I think Cosmic baseball is a good thing.  I know a lot of baseball “purists” are against the Savannah Bananas and Tri-Cities Cosmic Baseball but I think if it can get kids excited about the sport and adults wanting to continue to go to more baseball games it only grows the attention to baseball and that can’t be a bad thing.

Anything exciting coming up in the Spring that you would like to promote for Pilots fans?

Perry – This summer we are going to have a Retro series of games that we will ask the fans to dress and dance like it’s the 60’s, 80’s, and 2000’s.  We will have baseball cards to sell and give away. (more on this in an upcoming blog) On June 27th, you’ll have the opportunity to play baseball bingo.  And we will have a special in season series in early July with Tri-City called “The Battle of I-64”.  Whoever wins the best two out of three games will be awarded the 1st annual Battle of I-64 Championship Belt (like a boxing or wrestling belt).

Huge thanks to Perry Woods for his insights on baseball announcing, the Peninsula Pilots experience, and for sharing his incredible PA Announcer angle photos from his various assignments. I am hoping to bring you more Pilots news and interviews in 2025 as well as game experience photos and blogs after games. And for more information on the Peninsula Pilots, including off season promotions, upcoming schedule of games, and all things Pilots, head over to their official website – Peninsula Pilots.