Last night (Saturday, July 18), was Game #37 for the Hampton Roads based Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League. The Pilots (updated with last night’s score) are on a nice run, winning 9 out of 10, getting them near .500 baseball at 18-19. It was also my first game of 2026, having been mostly unlucky timing wise with the Pilots home schedule and my summer schedule to date. With temperatures over 90 degrees, humidity over 900 degrees, and a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast, Rachel and I decided to roll the dice and get tickets and head over to Hampton, VA’s War Memorial Stadium to see the Pilots play. And like every game I have attended, it was well worth the time, the effort, the drive to be a part of the Pilots baseball experience.
First off, like many sporting events, purchasing tickets has never been easier for events like minor league baseball, summer collegiate games like the Pilots, even most MLB games. Purchasing a ticket online, before the game, gives you piece of mind that when you arrive at the stadium, find parking, you can show your QR code ticket and walk into your stadium and get right into the baseball experience. The Pilots have an easy ticket system via their website – Peninsula Pilots – that is quick and painless, even for non-tech people like myself. Second, after arriving at War Memorial Stadium and finding parking, Rachel and I were joined by others in the parking lot standing at attention for the singing of the National Anthem. The Anthem means something a little deeper with all the military presence here in Hampton Roads. I was happy to see others not just rush over to get inside the stadium, taking the time to hear the Anthem from start to finish before heading to the ticket gates. Third, War Memorial is a national baseball treasure and I was sort of kicking myself for not getting over to see a game sooner this summer.
After settling in behind home plate about 6 rows up from the main stadium walkway, I looked around War Memorial to see if anything had changed since last season. The “suite level” section – table top, folding chairs – that ran the perimeter of the backstop area was still there. The huge, I mean huge ceiling fans circulating what air they could were still up in the rafters of the stadium. The wooden bleachers, the loyal Pilots fans cheering, the team owner (Dr. Morgan) was present shaking hands and giving hugs, and the huge stadium electronic scoreboard were all right there and in full effect Saturday night. No slight on previous seasons, but the field itself – the infield, the backstop area, the outfield fences with the sponsorship banners – looked incredible. I’m wasn’t entirely sure what, if anything, had been upgraded or changed, so I looked through some of my photos from previous seasons. I couldn’t really pick anything out specifically – the field just looked improved, clean, and super professional.
Saturday night’s game, for the time I was in attendance, was my kind of game – pitcher’s duel. Hi-Toms starter Justin Mabe pitched well, 6 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs allowed. Pilots starter Walker Fuller slightly outdid Mabe’s performance going 6 impressive innings, giving up just 1 run on 3 hits. Home runs allowed by both starting pitchers were really the only blips on their nights. Defense for both clubs was solid, hits were hard to come by, and as the game entered the middle innings, the score was Pilots 2 High-Toms 1. Middle innings meant two things – souvenir time and hot dog time.
On the way down the ramp to the hot dog vendor and souvenir stand, I noticed a plaque screwed into the first row of wooden bleachers. It read “in loving memory of Charles “Chuck” Williams.” I read the rest of the plaque and was immediately bummed out that I never had the chance to meet this person. According to the plaque, Williams was a “true baseball fan” who only missed 8 home games out of 58 seasons. That is an incredible accomplishment by a mega-true baseball fan. And I am guessing his catchphrase was “3 up 3 down” cheered game after game, inning after inning, season after season.
And this awesome banner heading down the ramp celebrating America’s 250 celebration…
After scoring a hot dog combo and a couple of sweet Peninsula Pilots jerseys, Rachel and I headed back up and into the wooden bleachers to catch a few more innings of the game. With sunset around 8:30 pm locally here in Hampton Roads, the stadium lights were just barely making a difference on the field. The dusk effect is one of the hardest times for playing conditions on a baseball field at any level. I used to love playing night games when the stadium lights were in full effect. Day games have their challenges on really bright, sunny days. Dusk lighting can be problematic for fielders searching for high flyballs in the night sky with little or no help from stadium lights or the moon or the sun. For last night’s game, dusk seemed to linger up until close to 9pm.
After a very satisfying 6 innings of Pilots vs. Hi-Toms, Rachel and I decided to hit the road and find a breeze to attempt to cool off. No fault to the Pilots or War Memorial Stadium, it was hot and humid and I was sweating profusely just sitting in the stands. The stadium ceiling fans were moving a ton of air, just not enough to really move the needle on the humidity scale. Plus, with the threat of storms nearby all around Southeastern VA, we figured we timed out our night just about as good as we could. We watched a fantastic pitcher’s duel and left with the Pilots up a run heading into the 7th inning. Checking the scores this morning, I was psyched to see the Pilots pulled off a walk-off win, scoring 2 in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Hi-Toms. Final score – Pilots 6, Hi-Toms 5.
It was another amazing Hampton baseball experience checking out the Peninsula Pilots at historic War Memorial Stadium, Hampton, VA, USA. For more information on tickets, upcoming games, team rosters, and more head over to the official website of the Pilots – www.peninsulapilots.com.
Discover more from The Baseball Storyteller
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
