Four Men Arrested for Playing Baseball in Hartford’s Unfinished Ballpark

Austin Kelly. Photo via Hartford Police

When it finally opens, Dunkin’ Donuts Park will be home to the impeccably dressed Hartford Yard Goats minor-league baseball team. But they won’t be the first to play there.

Four men were arrested Saturday night after police found them playing baseball inside the unfinished ballpark.

A Hartford cop assigned to security detail at the park heard cheering coming from the park around 8:30 p.m. Upon closer inspection, he found two men in the outfield, one on the pitcher’s mound, and one in the batter’s box, the Hartford Courant reports, none of whom can be found on the Yard Goat’s active roster.

When asked what they were doing, one of the outfielders replied, “Uh, playing some baseball.”

Michael Cowee, 24, of Hartford, Theodore Swanson, 25, of Glastonbury, Brandon Herrick, 29, of Old Saybrook, and Austin Kelly, 25, of Portland, were charged with second degree criminal trespassing. Kelly, an employee of Center Earth, one of the project’s contractors, apologized to police and admitted he shouldn’t have brought his pals to the ballpark.

[h/t Hartford Courant]