Macon Bacon Set for Home Opener as 2025 Summer Baseball Season Begins
MACON, Georgia – (41NBC/WMGT) – Summer baseball is back in Middle Georgia as the Macon Bacon prepare to host their 2025 home opener Saturday night at Luther Williams Field against the Lexington County Blowfish.
The Bacon began their season on the road Thursday night, falling 12–2 to the Forest City Owls in North Carolina after jumping out to an early 2–0 lead in the first inning, capitalizing on a string of walks and errors. The Owls responded with 12 unanswered runs to secure the win.
The 2025 campaign marks a fresh start for Macon under first-year head coach John Waterman, who was hired in November following the departure of Daniel Duarte. Duarte stepped down after a brief stint as head coach, succeeding Easton Waterman, who led the team to a 49–54 record over two seasons before accepting a position with the Miami Marlins last June.
After finishing the 2024 season with a 17–31 record and ending 13.5 games back in the Coastal Plain League’s West Division, the Bacon are aiming for a turnaround this summer.
This year’s roster features plenty of new faces, including several local standouts returning to play in their hometown. Among the 10 Georgia natives on the team, three hail from Middle Georgia: catcher Eli Stephens, a Houston County High School graduate and current Mercer Bear; left-handed pitcher Hayes Bryant, an FPD alum and rising sophomore at Reinhardt; and Carson Bryant, a Perry High graduate and rising redshirt junior at Georgia Southern, who returns to pitch for the Bacon once again.
The Bacon travel to South Carolina Friday night to face the Blowfish before returning home for Saturday’s 7 p.m. opener against the Florence Flamingos.
