Pearland is a baseball town. Ask anyone who has stood on the opening day sideline at Pearland Little League, watched the Oilers chase another district title, or followed a Dawson playoff. The sport has deep roots here. Starting this June, those roots dig even deeper.
The Pearland Cobblers, a collegiate summer wood bat team in the new Cowboy Collegiate League, (CCL) play their inaugural game on Sunday, June 7 at the Veterans Sports Complex behind the Pearland Natatorium.
Leading the new franchise as general manager is Nokona Powell, a 2021 Pearland High School graduate, excited to bring something new to the city he loves.
The pitch for putting a new team in Pearland wrote itself. Powell rattled off the reasons without hesitation. “When you think of baseball, you think of Pearland,” he said. “[The Oilers] just had the district championship for the fourth time in five years, and they also had two state runner up appearances at the state championship as well.”
The baseball culture runs deeper than the high school programs. Pearland Little League is well known. The Dawson Eagles are strong. Shadow Creek and the surrounding area round out a region where the sport is seemingly woven into the identity of nearly every family.
“Pearland Little League is like the fourth largest little league in the world,” Powell said. “When I was on the board there we had close to a thousand kids on opening day.”
For the Cobblers, that foundation is the runway to continue the tradition.
“That’s what we’re trying to do in Pearland,” Powell said. “We’re trying to make it the cornerstone.”
The Cobblers play in the Cowboy Collegiate League, a new Texas expansion of a national organization called The Players League. The parent company already operates the successful Old North State League in North Carolina, which fields roughly 15 teams and has a strong track record of developing collegiate players and sending them back to their programs stronger, and in some cases onward to professional baseball.
Powell has a simple way of describing the level of play. “It is collegiate baseball, but it’s minor collegiate baseball,” he said, noting it’s a long term to use, but the most accurate description.
The Cowboy Collegiate League has 13 teams spread across Texas. The Cobblers sit in the South Division alongside Baytown, Texas City, Conroe, and Galveston. The North Division covers the Waco and Dallas areas. Sister teams include the Galveston Sand Crabs, the Texas City Tall Boys, and one Powell favorite, the Waco Woolly Wranglers.
Pearland Cobblers? Yes, there will be questions about the name. Powell has heard them all, and he has asked them himself.
“When I first heard it, I was like, what is a cobbler,” he said. “You don’t put pears in cobbler as a dessert. But it’s really grown on me. Since being a part of it, I’ve done a lot of things with it. And I’m like, well, that’s pretty interesting.”
Once the branding sets in, the intent starts to land. The Cobblers sit next to other playful league identities, and the team colors lean on Pearland green with pear and brown accents that nod to the city’s identity.
“You look at the logo, you look at the name, it says Pearland across it,” Powell said. “And I want all of our players to know that you represent Pearland, whether it’s on the field, whether it’s in the community.”
Then there’s the tagline which captures the mission in three words: Built in Pearland.
“I want people to know that we’re building something here that fans, the community, and all the little ones can be a part of,” Powell said. “And [they] can be proud to know that they have their own collegiate summer team.”
Powell and his staff have loaded the roster with local talent. Pearland, Dawson, Lutheran South Academy (LSA), Dobie, Alvin, and Deer Park players are all represented, along with student athletes from across the Houston area and a handful coming in from out of state.
“We have a team of local players,” Powell said. “We want to highlight those local players and the people who firmed up their talents in college. They get to come back, they get to play for their community, and they get to play for a premier league where they get to play high level talent.”
The recruiting approach looks beyond pure performance.
“We’re not just recruiting for their athleticism,” Powell added. “We’re also looking at: How are they in the classroom? Are they academically good players? Are they athletically good players? How are they going to be on a team? Are they going to show teamwork? Are they going to have a bit of grit behind them? That’s what we look at when we’re recruiting.”
Eight to ten players are coming in from out of state, and the team is actively recruiting Pearland area host families to take them in for the summer.
“Being a host family is truly remarkable,” Powell said. “I can assure you that all the players that we’re bringing on board will be perfect for younger families who need a big brother their little ones can look up to.”
Head coach Peyton Birkelbach runs the dugout. Assistant coach Will Joiner Jr. brings high school and collegiate experience. Assistant general manager Justin Saenz leads operations alongside Powell.
“We have a super strong staff,” Powell said. “We have a really strong staff that we’re bringing to the community, and you can best believe that we’re going to make this thing great.”
Birkelbach’s development connections started paying off within days of his hire. He built a partnership with former Houston Astros pitcher Josh Zeid at Fuel Performance Academy in Pearland, giving every Cobblers pitcher private access to high level pitching development throughout the season.
“Coach Birkelbach has been hitting the ground running,” Powell said. “Literally every player on our roster, just about, he recruited. Within two weeks of being the head coach, he’s fielded probably over a half year on calls.”
The Cobblers are building the season around the family in the stands, not just the game on the field.
“Fans first,” Powell said. “We really want to put the fans and the community first. We want to make sure little Johnny comes in the front gate and he’s going to be welcomed with a great staff, and he’s going to walk in and have that same experience that you would walking down the street to the Houston Astros.”
All 22 home games will be theme nights. Team leadership are considering various concepts: Fan appreciation night. Star Wars night. Christmas in July. Opening night on Sunday, June 7 has been internally branded as the Cobbler Kickoff Classic.
“That kickoff night, the opening night on Sunday, June 7, we have the local Pearland Superintendent Dr. Larry Berger throwing out the first pitch,” Powell said. “We have some inflatables, some fan zones, and our potential sponsors and potential partners can have their booths out there and a couple of food trucks.” He added that in-game promotions, giveaways, live broadcasts, and entertainment between innings will round out the experience.
Ticket pricing is built for families. Adult tickets start at $10. Kids tickets start at $5. Large groups can access special pricing with a minimum of 50 tickets beginning at $5 apiece, ideal for company outings, youth teams, and civic groups. Birthday party packages include ten tickets, pregame field access, batting practice, and time with players after the game.
“We’re not trying to have families overpay for competitive baseball and a good fan experience,” Powell said. “And you can best believe once they enter the gate, their fan experience is going to be there.”
When Powell introduces the team, he leads with one line.
“We’re not outside people coming in,” he said. “We’re all local. We all have local ties, lived in Pearland, grew up in Pearland. Whether it’s me, our assistant general manager, our coaches, or some of our interns, we’re all local to Pearland.”
That extends to the team’s relationship with the City of Pearland. The Parks and Recreation Department has coordinated facility improvements ahead of opening day, including adding dirt to the Veterans Sports Complex infield.
“They have been phenomenal,” Powell said. “Communicative, up front, working to get things done.”
For local businesses weighing a sponsorship commitment, the Cobblers offer tiered Cobblership packages across four categories: in ballpark signage, fan activation, digital media, and the printed Cobblers Program. Options start as low as $200 for a camp t shirt sponsor and scale up to marquee placements like a $3,125 jersey sponsorship or $3,125 streaming partnership. Powell is candid about the early conversations.
“A lot of them are skeptical, just because of us being a first-year team,” he said. “It is hard to commit when they haven’t seen a product. And so what I’ve been telling them is, I’m an up-front guy. You’re going to get transparency from me whatsoever. And I can tell you that this thing is going to be successful.”
“Our mission is: Built in Pearland,” Powell repeated. “So everything we do, we’re going to put everyone on the forefront. That’s the community, that’s the fans, that’s our staff, that’s our players.”
Powell is a coach. He will always care about wins. But says he measures the first season by more than the final standings.
“You have to win ballgames in order to be successful,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I’m making sure that we’re sending a product back to their colleges. I can assure you that all of our roster players are going to go back to their colleges with something they can pull from this. Whether it’s something that we’ve taught them in baseball, or whether it’s something we’ve taught them athletically, or something that they can carry on in the next part of life.”
Every Cobblers player will be required to participate in at least one community service project during the year.
“We want to build that sense of community, that sense of pride,” Powell said. “We want to see people around the city wearing our gear. We want to see people from the city asking questions like: “hey, are you part of the Cobblers?””
Asked what he wants a Pearland kid to feel the first time they pull on a Cobblers jersey five or ten years from now, Powell did not hesitate. “I want it to be nostalgia,” he said. “I want them to feel that they can wear that with a sense of pride… I want them to know when they put that jersey on that we built something that’s going to be great, that’s going to be successful, and that’s for the community.”
“When a pitcher gets on the mound and gets a big strikeout, you want to see the fans standing up behind them, screaming and yelling and showing that sense of Pearland pride,” Powell said. “They’re wearing not only their name and number on the back of the jersey, but what they represent on the front of their jersey.”
The Pearland Cobblers open their inaugural season Sunday, June 7 at Veterans Sports Complex, 4141 Bailey Road, Pearland. Local practices begin May 29. The Mini Cobblers Summer Camp for area kids runs June 3 through June 5 from 9 a.m. to noon for $100 per camper, with sign ups on the team’s Facebook page. A community bingo night is planned at local bar and grill Rob Ray’s Taproom, in late May. Tickets, roster, coaches, statistics, live stream access, merchandise, host family information, and sponsorship details are available at pearlandcobblers.com.
Built in Pearland. For Pearland. Starting June 7.
Pearland Cobblers official website
Pearland Cobblers on Facebook
Pearland Cobblers on Instagram
Pearland Cobblers Mini Camp Registration
Cowboy Collegiate League: New Collegiate Summer Baseball Team Launches in Pearland, TX
Interested in partnering or learning more?
Reach out to Nokona Powell at: npowell@pearlandcobblers.com
