Cameron Bebeau

With baseball season rapidly approaching, single-game tickets for the 2025 Fayetteville Woodpeckers season went on sale March 1, at noon.

The Woodpeckers are looking to turn the page on last year’s 55-75 record as they enter their sixth season. A major storyline heading into this year is the arrival of new leadership, including the team’s fifth manager in six years.

Carlos Lugo, who has spent over a decade in the Houston Astros organization, will take the managing lead in 2025, per MiLB.com reports. Lugo is bringing tremendous experience in player development, something that is crucial for a team wanting to establish a winning culture.

Joining Lugo will be James Wiseman, pitching coach, Kyle Brennan, hitting coach, Alfredo Granier, development coach, Jordan Small, strength coach, and Daniel Gonzalez, trainer.

Without including Lugo’s numbers, the five new staff members will bring 10 years of Astro’s experience to the plate, with two of them having under two years with the organization.

A notable off-season move includes fan favorite Will Bush being invited as a non-roster invitee (NRI) to the Astros spring training. An NRI is a player invited to spring training but is not on the team’s 40-man roster. This can often be done as a chance for players to showcase their talents in an official capacity.

The first games played at Segra Stadium in 2025 will not be on the Woodpeckers’ opening day, but rather this week, as East Carolina University will host Gardner-Webb University on March 4, and University of North Carolina, Wilmington on March 18. In previous years, teams including University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, Campbell University and many more have taken part in the college gameday.

The Woodpeckers will start their season off with a three-game homestand against the Lynchburg Hillcats. The two teams last faced off in August 2024, with the Woodpeckers holding a 1-3 record after the series was plagued by bad weather.

More information can be found on the team website: https://www.milb.com/fayetteville

Originally Published at: https://www.fsuthevoice.com/fayetteville-woodpeckers-season-approaches/