If the recent unseasonably warm weather has conjured up thoughts of the coming spring and baseball season, then Asheboro, NC should be your destination this coming weekend.

The 2012 baseball season at Asheboro’s McCrary Park – home of the Coastal Plain League’s Asheboro Copperheads – will begin this coming Friday, Feb. 10, and continue throughout the weekend with Pfeiffer University serving as the host team for a three-day round-robin event. Also participating in the event co-hosted by the Copperheads are NCAA Division II schools Barton College of Wilson, Tusculum College of Greenville, Tenn., and Shepherd University.of Shepherdstown, W. Va.

Shepherd and Pfeiffer will open play on Friday, Feb. 10 at 3 p.m., followed by a Barton-Tusculum matchup at 6. At noon on Saturday, Tusculum will play Pfeiffer, followed immediately by Shepherd vs. Barton. In Sunday’s action, Shepherd and Tusculum will play at noon and the event will conclude with Barton taking on host Pfeiffer. General admission tickets will be $5 per day.

Three of the four teams – Pfeiffer, Barton and Tusculum, have already opened their seasons with games the first week in February, while Shepherd will be playing their season-opener against Pfeiffer on Friday afternoon.

After next weekend’s games at McCrary Park, local fans won’t have to wait long before seeing more college action. Winston-Salem State and Brevard will meet in a 4 p.m. game at McCrary on Tuesday, Feb. 14. The Rams made an impressive return to collegiate baseball in 2011 by winning 30 games and advancing to the NCAA Division II playoffs after a 37-year absence from the sport.

Later in the month of February, Barton’s Bulldogs will return to town to play the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m. on Wedndesday, Feb. 29. Both games are scheduled for seven innings.

General admission will be $5 for both the WSSU-Brevard game and for the Barton-LR doubleheader.

The Asheboro Copperheads are a member of the Coastal Plain League, the nation’s hottest summer collegiate baseball league. Celebrating its 16th season in 2012, the CPL features 14 teams playing in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. The CPL gives college players the chance to refine their skills with the use of wooden bats. The CPL has had over 930 alumni drafted and 46 alums make their Major League debut thus far. For more information on the Coastal Plain League, please visit the league website at http://www.coastalplain.com, and be sure to friend the league on Facebook (at http://www.facebook.com/coastalplainleague). For additional information on the Copperheads, please visit the team’s website at http://www.teamcopperhead.com.

David Camp

(336) 460-7018