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Atlanta Braves Carolina Mudcats Team Bus Wrecks

By Alan Carpenter

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Carolina Mudcats Bus Crash: Photo Credit: Greg Young, Jr. (Mudcats Media Relations)

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Details are still being sorted out, but a Trailways charter bus carrying the High-A Carolina Mudcats baseball team and their staff flipped over in Columbus County, North Carolina at 3:45am this morning local time.

According to a report from WECT, a team trainer – presumably Joe Toenjes – and 7 seven players were taken to a local hospital with what were described as minor injuries.  TomahawkTake.com reached out to Greg Young, Jr., who is the Media Relations representative for the team and was on the bus at the time, for further information.  At this point, he does not have any further detail about who was injured, or how severely.  Much of this was in deference to the families, who have not been contacted at this point.

UPDATE:  From WECT report – “All eight have since been released.”

Some team members have been tweeting about the event:

Marksberry later indicated that he was “a lil cut up but good.”

Via an interview, Young described the events of the crash, beginning with the suggestion that the driver may have been attempting a curve with too much speed.  The bus ended up on its side, and most escaped via the roof hatch.  Young indicated that he himself was thrown on top of someone else in the melee and that many were grabbing hold of one another to buffer themselves during the wreck, which was warned via a shout from the driver as it happened.

Escape Hatch on the roof of the bus – used for egress after the wreck. Photo Credit: Greg Young, Jr (Mudcats Media Relations).

The team was on the way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from Salem, Virginia.  Their Tuesday night game has been canceled.  The bus is operated by Abbott Bus Lines.  Injured have been taken to Columbus Regional Hospital.

Columbus County is the 3rd largest county in North Carolina by area and is located near the SE corner of the state.  No interstate highways cross through it, and the report indicates that the bus crashed on Clarendon Chadbourn Road, a county road between Chadbourn and Tabor City, which sits on the NC/SC border.  There is a sharp left turn on this road just outside of Chadbourn.

The coach of the Mudcats is Luis Salazar.  The team roster can be seen here.

We will update this story as events warrant.

UPDATE:  Looks like the club is just about back on the road for Myrtle:

List of players tweeting that they are okay (or implying such):

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