GARY, Ind. -- The Gary SouthShore RailCats Opening Day will be Friday, May 25, 2012 against the Wichita Wingnuts as the franchise begins its 11^th season at U. S. Steel Yard. The RailCats 100-game schedule, including 50 home games, was released on Wednesday by the American Association.
The upcoming season will be Gary's second in the 13-team American Association and they will remain a member of the Central Division. The league recently added the Laredo Lemurs, while the franchises from Fort Worth and Shreveport-Bossier will not return to the league this season.
The American Association also announced the introduction of interleague play as each team will play a slate of games against teams from the Can-Am League, which is managed by the same office. The RailCats will host an interleague series at U. S. Steel Yard from June 7-10. They will play the rest of their interleague games from July 12-22 as they hit the road for an 11-game trip against Can-Am League competition. The opponents for interleague games should be announced next week.
"Interleague play adds a new concept for both leagues," said Dan Moushon, President of both the American Association and Can-Am League. "We are the league office for both leagues and had an odd number of teams in both, so it made sense to put them together."
Gary also played a role in ensuring the concept would work, Moushon added. "Gary was willing to be one of the teams that will travel East, so that helped as we made our plans for interleague play."
The RailCats schedule is spread out with six home games at the end of May, 14 home games in June, 10 in July and jam-packed with 20 home games from August through early September to close out the regular season, which ends September 3. The home schedule breaks down to six Monday games, eight on Tuesday, seven on Wednesday, six on Thursday, seven on Friday and eight games on both Saturday and Sunday. Game times are Monday - Friday 7:10 p.m., Saturdays 6:10 p.m. and Sundays 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 30 games will begin at 11:10 a.m. Wednesday, June 13 and Thursday, August 23 games will begin at 12:10 p.m.
As always, the RailCats will have a full line up of exciting nightly promotions and giveaways. The promotional schedule will be announced in the coming months. Moushon was impressed with the RailCats organization after their inaugural season in the league in 2011."Gary has been a tremendous addition to the league," Moushon said. "They have nice facilities and the organization is very professionally run both on and off the field."
RailCats games will provide family fun and entertainment as they continue to keep "Entertaining the Region" for fans throughout Northwest Indiana. The 2012 home dates are listed below and the full schedule will be made available online at www.railcatsbaseball.com. You can follow the RailCats on Facebook and Twitter for all of the latest news and information.