How the Knights were able to bring live college baseball to uptown Charlotte this summer

After more than three months without a pitch at Truist Field, baseball is returning to uptown Charlotte on Friday.

Though the Charlotte Knights won’t be taking the field -- minor league seasons remain up in the air -- the Piedmont Pride, a member of the six-team Southern Collegiate Baseball League, will play 18 games at Truist Field June 19-July 31, the Knights announced this week.

The plan for baseball’s return to Truist Field was outlined with COVID-19 health guidelines from the CDC at the forefront, Knights chief operating officer Dan Rajkowski told The Observer.

The plans, in line with Phase 2 of North Carolina’s reopening, include limited fan attendance and changes to on-field procedures to protect the players and coaches’ health.

“Any advice that the CDC gives us, we’re taking and implementing,” Rajkowski said. “People are getting out and about anyway. Now they’re getting out and about in a controlled atmosphere for a limited number of people.”

Fans won’t be allowed to sit in the normal stadium seating. Instead, Truist Field will allow fans to eat in one of its seven restaurants on the concourse. No more than 25 people can be in one restaurant, which leaves a crowd maximum of about 175 people per game.

Pride games will not be open to the general public while North Carolina remains in Phase 2, and anyone who wants to attend must reserve a $30 seat through the Charlotte Knights’ website. Rajkowski said he’s “hopeful” that they will be able to let more people in if North Carolina transitions to Phase 3 of reopening.

“Not any time soon will we be able to put full capacity in that ballpark,” Rajkowski said. “It’s going to be social distanced [and] limited capacity.”

It won’t be back to normal on the field, either. Players will drive separate vehicles to the ballpark, bring their own equipment and use personal water bottles. Their temperatures will be taken as they enter the ballpark.

No one is allowed to take batting practice before games and locker rooms are off-limits, though players can sit in dugouts six feet apart.

“Originally, we had to do a lot of research,” Rajkowski said. “The Southern Collegiate Baseball League and coaches really did their homework to be prepared for this.”

Pride head coach Joe Hudak, who spent 19 years as the head coach at Winthrop University, said the Pride’s partnership with Truist Field was born after difficulty finding a place for the Rock Hill-based team to play in York County.

Hudak sent an email to Rajkowski asking about the Knights’ ballpark June 3, met with Rajkowski and general manager Rob Egan soon after, and started to arrange the plans.

“Most of us are excited to see some live baseball or football or some type of sport,” Hudak said. “We just want to try to get back to something that’s normal.”

Hudak said while other summer leagues across the country, like the Cape Cod Baseball League in Massachusetts, have canceled their 2020 seasons, his team is thankful to playing in the Knights’ ballpark -- even if the stadium that has a capacity of 10,000 fans, could remain empty for the season.

“I think college baseball is the last type of baseball where kids play the game for the love of the game,” Hudak said. “It’s going to be weird not having any people in the stands, but I think once we play a game or maybe two games and we can get a feel for it, it’s not going to matter.”