WILMINGTON — Wilmington will be home to another baseball league this summer after trading in a contract to use a Leland facility for a home base at UNCW.
The Cape Fear Ghost Crabs — named after the Atlantic coast’s sand-colored crustacean — will play their inaugural home game on Memorial Day at UNCW’s Brooks Field. Though not affiliated with the university, the collegiate-level wood-bat team will use the stadium for the duration of the summer after originally planning to use a high school field in Brunswick County.
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The team is owned by Wilmington locals Rob and Emily Good, who are also behind Oleander Drive’s batting cage, Bats and Brews. The entrepreneurs also own the shaved ice franchise Pelicans SnoBalls in Wilmington.
General Manager Tom Lamont told Port City Daily the couple’s vision has always been to own a baseball team.
“We’re just hoping that this is going to be a great relationship [with UNCW] and we’re going to create a family fun atmosphere for everybody to come in the summer,” Lamont said.
His experience comes as director of community relations for the Wilmington Sharks, the 29-year-old summer collegiate team that plays at the 1,200-seat Buck Hardy Field at Legion Stadium. The Sharks were a founding team of the Coastal Plain League, created nearly 20 years before The Old North State League, which the Ghost Crabs belong to. The Old North State League is one of the largest in the United States with 24 teams.
However, the teams won’t play each other, Lamont said. The Ghost Crabs’ division includes the Shallotte Shalleywags, Oak Island Loggerheads, Jacksonville Ospreys and others.
The NCAA has strict rules about amateur league compliance that generally prevents interleague play during the regular season, though exhibition games could be possible. However, according to Lamont, The Coastal Plain League will not play teams in the Old North State teams in any way.
“I think that’s sad because it would be so much for the community to see both teams play each other,” Lamont said.
Port City Daily reached out to the Wilmington Sharks for a statement and asked the team to confirm they were prohibited from playing the Ghost Crabs. The team’s statement did not answer the question and only spoke to the Shark’s upcoming season.
“The Sharks are excited to go into the 30th year in Wilmington,” according to the statement. “We have been very lucky to receive such strong support from the Greater Wilmington Community averaging over 1,300 fans last season. We currently have 7 former Sharks in the Major Leagues with over 29 players in the Minor Leagues.”
The team said it will implement a Kids Zone at the stadium this year, along with other promotions and corporate sponsorships.
Lamont told Port City Daily he wanted both teams to succeed and pointed out there is not a lot of overlap between their games, meaning baseball fans could show out for both.
The Ghost Crabs will also have a less busy season, playing 40 regular season games compared to the Sharks’ 60.
The Goods’ original plan was to locate the Ghost Crabs in Leland, not Wilmington. Ahead of the 2026 summer season, Rob Good was working on a contract with Brunswick County Schools to use the ballfield at North Brunswick High School.
“There was a time period where we were waiting for the contract to come back from the Brunswick County Schools and then it went rather long — it took a long time for them to get back,” Lamont said.
So Lamont secured a meeting with the university’s athletic staff; it helped that he is graduate president of the alumni association and the team’s coaching staff were also UNCW affiliated, he said.
Per UNCW’s approval, the contract has the university handling concessions through its vendor Aramark, which includes beer, a perk that wouldn’t have been possible at North Brunswick High. The upgrade also comes with about 3,000 more seats, along with a turf field and video scoreboard.
Lamont said the university’s complex will be the “Taj Mahal” of the league.
Port City Daily asked Brunswick County Schools to comment on the contract negotiations; a spokesperson said BCS and the board of education completed the approval process but was later notified the organization “decided to move forward with a lease at another venue.”
The relocation is the second strike out for Leland baseball after REV Entertainment’s plans to build a 4,000-seat stadium, which also could have accommodated smaller level tournaments, for a minor-league team fizzled out after residents pushed back on the proposal. A financial analysis revealed the stadium would cost more than $100 million, causing Brunswick County to end its consideration of debt issuance for the project. Less than a year later, Leland tabled its conversations.
Lamont told Port City Daily the Goods have not given up on bringing the sport to Leland. He said Rob Good is currently searching for land to open a baseball complex that can accommodate college and high school tournaments.
“All the tournament business goes to Myrtle Beach,” Lamont said. “This is something that we don’t really have in this area and it could draw people to our beaches, it could draw people to this area.”
Upon being asked if the future Leland facility would also become the Ghost Crabs’ home, Lamont said they were going to see how UNCW worked out first. He acknowledged any new stadium is at least two years down the road.
In the meantime, the team hopes to create a community-focused atmosphere at UNCW where everyone, not just baseball fanatics, can enjoy the games.
“Some people are there with their friends, they’re there to get a hot dog and a beer and just talk; they may not even watch the game until somebody hits a home run or something, and then they’ll look up,” Lamont said. “But that’s okay too, because we want people to be there having a good time with their friends and family, and we’re going to have a lot of things going on in between innings.”
This includes shouting out local nonprofits; Lamont said the team is working with 21 local groups, like the Boys and Girls Club and the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services, to provide families with free tickets and meals.
The Ghost Crabs will play their first game on Monday, May 25, against the Laurinburg Highland Hooligans.
Then on May 27 they are facing off against the Mid-State Melon Mashers, also a new team named in honor of breast cancer survivors. Lamont said his team is working with the Melon Mashers on ways to honor the cause at UNCW.
Lamont is also encouraging his team to give back to the community; he hopes he can get every member to assist him with at least one act of community service this summer.
Many of the players are Cape Fear natives and attend North Carolina colleges, including UNC Greensboro, UNC Pembroke, Wingate and Brunswick Community College. Lamont said he hopes they will embrace role model status, especially for the little leaguers the team plans to partner with on events.
“I hope that as part of their experiences they’re going to be better men when they go back home after this summer,” Lamont said.
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