Are you ready for some baseball? Gastonia team owners talk about a fresh start

The Gastonia Baseball Club's first game of the season is almost here, and it comes as Zawyer Sports and entertainment, the new team's owner, works to make amends with those who feel they were burned by NC Gas House Gang, the company that owns the Gastonia Honey Hunters.

The new team will play the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in a home game on Thursday, April 25, said Zawyer Sports CEO Andy Kaufmann.

"It's been a tough year or two prior to this one, with the prior ownership. It's left some damage, but not irreparable damage," Kaufmann said.

One of the company's first priorities will be to pay back the debt N.C. Gas House Gang left behind, resolving things with dozens of creditors.

"We have paid several so far and others are in process. And those that we haven't connected with yet, we plan to over time. It wasn't even just folks that were owed money. There other folks that paid deposits for events that were to occur this year," he said. "Again, making sure that they're not having to pay twice, and they're still going to get delivered."

He said that by the time Zawyer is finished paying those debts, "it'll be a seven figure amount."

There will be visible changes at the stadium, and one of the biggest will be the team name: Zawyer hasn't chosen one yet.

The Gastonia Baseball Club will have eight "what if" nights. On each of those nights, they will unveil one of the contenders for the team's name, and then in the end, they'll unveil the final selection. The company will announce the first of the eight possible names Monday.

"We didn't want to rush it and get it wrong. This is Gastonia's team, so we want to make sure Gastonia legit names it," he said.

Kaufmann said that he is excited about the new season.

"I think if it was like the ownership group's first team it might have been more daunting, but we know how to turn teams around," he said. "I mean, even in Jacksonville, right where I am right now… we averaged just under 6,000 fans a game when we bought the team and five years later, we're at 8,700 a game winning the league. So we know how to make a difference, right? So we know what we can do."

He said that one of issues Zawyer has encountered has been convincing the community that Zawyer does not operate like NC Gas House Gang.

"The first thing we did was, again, we looked at all of the these local vendors and employees that hadn't been paid. Legally speaking, we could have not paid some or paid like, a discount on the dollar, if you will, but we made the decision to pay everybody 100% of what they should have been paid by our predecessor," he said. "And so again, you know, that's an action over a word, right?… I think it's just something that we need to continue to prove to you guys: that it's more than just words."

He said he feels honored to be able to operate a team in Gastonia.

"There's just a lot to be excited about if you have a passion for this sort of thing, which we do. I mean, I think if this was without the passion, it wouldn't make sense, right? But again, we are confident. We believe in it, and we love it," he said.

A timeline of how the Gastonia Honey Hunters fell from grace, lost accreditation, and ended up at the center of a legal dispute:

July 2023: NC Gas House Gang's financial problems became public after Honey Hunters players refused to take to the field over unpaid salaries. Gastonia and Gaston County both said that the company owed them tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees.

August 2023: The Gastonia Honey Hunters organization paid the debt they owed the city of Gastonia, but they still owed the county government money.

November 2023: The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball terminated the Gastonia Honey Hunters' membership over more than $1 million in unpaid debt. The city of Gastonia sued NC Gas House Gang, the company that owns the Honey Hunters to try to force the company out of the stadium.

December 2023: NC Gas House Gang filed for bankruptcy in Maryland.

Late December 2023: A judge in Maryland bankruptcy court ruled that the city of Gastonia could proceed with its lawsuit asking that the Gastonia Honey Hunters vacate the city-owned stadium where they once played. The judgment granted the city relief from the automatic stay issued when NC Gas House LLC, the company that operates the Honey Hunters, filed for bankruptcy.

January 2024: NC Gas House Gang said in a countersuit that Gastonia drove the Honey Hunters to bankruptcy, scheming with the Atlantic League to take control of the team and then locking the Honey Hunters out of the stadium.

February 2024: NC Gas House Gang LLC held a press conference in which the company's lawyers admitted that NC Gas House Gang does not have the money right now to pay off their many debts. However, they said that if the company triumphs in court, it is their hope that they will regain the right to access the CaroMont Health Park stadium in Gastonia's FUSE District, allowing them to hold non-baseball related events that will help them pay their debts.

February 2024: The city of Gastonia announced a new baseball team, the Gastonia Baseball Club, owned by Zawyer Sports and Entertainment.

March 2024: The owner of the Gastonia Honey Hunters was denied what it asked for in two recent rulings in Maryland bankruptcy court.

Judge Lori S. Simpson denied NC Gas House Gang's request to be admitted back into the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Simpson also denied the company's request to vacate an earlier decision that allowed Gastonia's lawsuit against NC Gas House Gang to proceed.

April 2024: The Gastonia Baseball Club's first season started.

This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia baseball team owners talk about a fresh start