CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Queens baseball is lookin to defy expectations in 2026.
Coming off a nine-win season last year, the Royals were picked to finish last in the ASUN conference in a preseason poll.
Head coach Jake Hendrick is determined to outperform those predictions.
“Nobody’s showing up at this level to get the results we’ve gotten the last two years,” Hendrick said. “That doesn’t change the motivation for what this group wants to accomplish.”
One of the new faces added to the roster this offseason is no stranger to Charlotte, or his new home field.
He literally laid the foundation for it himself.
Dylan Schaefer grew up around baseball fields as the son of former big leaguer Jeff Schaefer.
Jeff Schaefer started the Knothole Foundation nearly a decade ago to bring baseball to underprivileged kids in the Queen City.
That mission included the construction of the Stick Williams Dream Field in west Charlotte, which Dylan Schaefer helped build.
“Dylan was on the tractor, Dylan had a rake in his hand, Dylan had a shovel in his hand,” Jeff Schaefer said. “For him to be out here, playing on this field, at the highest level of college baseball, knowing that underneath his feet he moved that dirt, that’s pretty cool.”
Dylan Schaefer didn’t get a chance to play everyday at UNC Wilmington, his first school. Now he’ll get a chance to prove himself as the starting shortstop in his hometown.
“I’m excited to be a part of the group that gets to turn it around and show everybody that Queens baseball is a mid-major program that’s here to play,” Dylan Schaefer said.
Doing so with his dad in the stands every day is a nice bonus.
“The pride level is high,” Jeff Schaefer said. “I get to see him in an environment that he loves, like I did.”
Queens opens up the 2026 season with a weekend series at home against Navy.
This is the first season the Royals are eligible for the NCAA Tournament after their probationary period following their transition to the Division I level in 2023.
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