ASHEBORO — The Asheboro ZooKeepers play their home opener Friday night against the Forest City Owls at McCrary Park.
The ZooKeepers have listed more than 45 players as joining the summer collegiate baseball team this year.
After recent years of some player shortages, the Coastal Plain League team appears to bulking up its roster.
Mark Weidemaier, a Liberty resident, is the first-year manager of the ZooKeepers.
The roster includes a few players with area ties. Former Randleman players Seth Way (Liberty), Braxton Walker (Wingate) and Hunter Atkins (Catawba) are listed. Way and Walker are pitchers, while Atkins, a past player for the ZooKeepers, is a utility player.
Atkins won’t be with the ZooKeepers right away because Catawba is playing in the Division II World Series, which begins Friday in Cary.
Here’s a breakdown of other players who could play for the ZooKeepers at some point this season:
Pitchers: Miles Corcoran (Spartanburg Methodist), Hutson Trobaugh (Chipola CC), Landon Lucas (UNC Pembroke), McCall Biemiller (Florida), Nathan McKissick (Midway), Caydon Laird (Southern Indiana), Ian Anderson (Southern Indiana), Brenden Cole (Midway), Takuma Sato (Union), Nathanael Volk (North Carolina Wesleyan), Quinn Saunders (Case Western), Reilly Byers (East Tennessee State), Ryan Beebe (Rowan College of South Jersey-Cumberland), Robert Ahlgren (Kalamazoo), Carlos Gomez (Campbellsville), Bennett Holdener (Wabash Valley), Luke Czarnomski (Marietta), Mark Salicco (High Point), Thomas Egbert (Pennsylvania), Kyle Rudolph (Michigan State), Ben Shepherd (USC Aiken), Bennett Holdener (Wabash Valley), Joseph Yamamoto (North Greenville), Max Whitmer (Georgetown), Tyler Stillson (Case Western).
Corcoran is a past player with the ZooKeepers. Lucas and Stillson are also infielders.
Catchers: Josh Martinez (UNC Wilmington), Damwoo Kim (New Mexico Military Institute), Will Oates (Shippensburg).
Infielders: Reggie Sharpe (Michigan State), Matt Procopio (Lenoir-Rhyne), Chazz Grossington (Winthrop), Calvin Cook (Middle Tennessee State), Brady McGuire (Seton Hill), Jackson Hood (UNC Wilmington), first baseman Dane Harvey (Ohio State), first baseman/outfielder Brady Schallmoser (Wabash Valley), Daniel Stephens (UNC Pembroke).
Outfielders: Blake Brookins (Florida), Cameron Austin Jr. (USC Aiken), Wyatt Bush (UNC Greensboro), Tyler Peller (Wabash Valley), Trent Murchison (Lenoir-Rhyne), Leandro Hernandez (Wabash Valley).
Asheboro posted a 24-24 CPL record last year. Forest City was the 2025 West Division champion.
It’s the 30th season of the CPL, expanding from six teams in 1997 in eastern North Carolina to 15 teams across four states.
The newest team is the Zebulon Devil Dogz. That team occupies the formerly named Five County Stadium, which had been home of the minor-league Carolina Mudcats.
Friday’s home opener will be followed with a fireworks show, one of three scheduled at McCrary Park this year.
