By WJBC Staff
NORMAL – The Normal CornBelters have officially released their 2016 schedule.
Besides an “Education Day” exhibition game on Thursday, May 5 at 10 a.m. versus the Joliet Slammers, they will play 48 regular season home games at The Corn Crib from Friday, May 13 through Sunday, September 4. They will play the first home game of their sixth season on Friday, May 13 at 6:35 p.m. versus the Joliet Slammers.
“We can’t wait for the 2016 season to begin! With the team coming off a 61 and 35 campaign we are excited to take the next step and win a championship. We now expect to win each season but we need to start adding Championships!” said CornBelters President and General Manager Steve Malliet. “We also have some exciting changes coming at the ballpark with a new concessions menu and enhanced customer service plans. I believe fans are going to feel this is the best season yet once we complete the 2016 season.”
For the 2016 season, the CornBelters will start all Tuesday through Saturday home games at 6:35 p.m., and Sunday home games will begin at 4:35 p.m. The CornBelters home schedule features eight Sunday games, eight Tuesdays, eight Wednesdays, eight Thursdays, eight Fridays and eight Saturdays. For the fourth season in a row, they will play no home games on Mondays. Gates will always open one hour prior to game time. All game times are subject to change.
The 2016 Frontier League will include 12 teams, separated into two divisions. The divisions are a change from the 2014 and 2015 format. The East Division will consist of the Lake Erie Crushers (Avon, OH), Traverse City Beach Bums (Traverse City, MI), Washington Wild Things (Washington, PA), Joliet Slammers (Joliet, IL), Schaumburg Boomers (Schaumburg, IL) and Windy City Thunderbolts (Crestwood, IL). The West Division will consist of the Gateway Grizzlies (Sauget, IL), River City Rascals (O’Fallon, MO), Florence Freedom (Florence, KY), Evansville Otters (Evansville, IN), Southern Illinois Miners (Marion, IL) and the CornBelters. The Florence Freedom will host the All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 13.
“As it is every year in the Frontier League, we’ll have a very challenging schedule. We expect to have some great competitive baseball in Normal,” said CornBelters Field Manager, Brooks Carey. “We always play extremely well at The Corn Crib and hope to bring another winning season to Normal in 2016.”
You can see the complete schedule here.