Disco Turkeys show progress in second season

The Carolina Disco Turkeys finished up their second season earlier this month and improved on their inaugural year’s win total despite playing a much tougher schedule.

The team finished the regular season 17-21-2 and picked up impressive road wins at the High Point-Thomasville Hi-Toms and Wilmington Sharks—each from the prestigious Coastal Plain League-- which turned heads in the area summer ball community.

The club also had a strong showing against their regional rival the Statesville Owls, winning all three games of the season series, including a pair of walk-off wins in June. The Disco Turkeys had lost all their games to the Owls in the previous season.

Offensively, the Disco Turkeys’ 2022 offense was led by High Point University’s Cam Lee, who hit a team-high 8 homers and drove in 20 runs and Wake Forest’s Pirmin Brechbuhl who had 3 homers and 19 RBIs and also provided steady leadership for the team.

Samford University’s Nico Noto got hot late for the team and finished with 5 homers, including one in each of the team’s three games at the All-American Amateur Baseball Association (AAABA) National Tournament in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The Disco Turkeys lost out in the Turkeyfoot Cup rivalry series with the Boone Bigfoots in 2022 in the inaugural year of the trophy series. However, the series did allow the two teams to turn into true rivals. The Disco Turkeys finished 3-7 in the 10 hard-fought games. The Disco Turkeys also struggled at the AAABA Tournament in their second appearance, despite showing some offensive firepower in Johnstown. The team received a notably tough draw with the eventual national champion New Orleans in the opener and Philadelphia, arguably the tournament's second best squad, in the second game.

“Overall, our organization was very pleased with the improvement in our second year,” said team co-owner and president Greg Sullivan. “We went out and played the toughest competition we could play and were consistently competitive and got some wins against some very good teams. Our head coach Scott Kirby and staff did a great job. We expect to only get better as we continue to get top athletes on the recruiting trail. This year we saw a tremendous jump in terms of offensive power and quality at bats from our lineup and better depth from our pitching. Our goal is to make a schedule and roster that are each even stronger in 2023. This year's team was a lot of fun and kept our fans entertained all season and we look forward to watching the players have success with their college teams.”