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Burlington infielder Colby Schultz makes contact in a 2018 game against Elizabethton.
Times-News
Times-News
A new era of baseball in Burlington inched closer to its inaugural season Wednesday with the restructured Appalachian League’s release of a 2021 schedule.
On deck for the Burlington club and the Appalachian league’s nine other teams are 54-game schedules featuring three two-game series per week for each club.
The season begins the first week of June and runs through the middle of August. Formerly, the Appalachian League ran from the end of June until September with 68 regular-season games for each team.
In late September, Major League Baseball and USA Baseball announced that the rookie-level professional league would become an amateur wooden-bat summer league for rising college freshmen and sophomores.
Burlington opens its season with a two-game series at Princeton June 3-4 before returning home to Burlington Athletic Stadium for two games against Danville June 5-6, a Saturday and Sunday, marking the first time the venue has hosted an Appalachian League game in more than 18 months.
“This schedule not only gives us the dates our new team will be playing on, but it finally gives us and our community that missing piece of excitement,” Burlington general manager Anderson Rathbun said in a statement. “This long-standing summer tradition in Burlington is finally back and the countdown to us opening our gates has officially begun.”
Burlington’s 27-game home slate features 20 games on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, including a July 4 matchup against Danville.
“When Ryan (Keur) acquired this club in March of this year, we made a promise to give our fans, our city and our partners world-class entertainment each and every year,” Rathbun continued. “When they all get here on June 5th, there is no doubt in my mind everyone who walks through those gates will feel the energy and excitement that we have for this community. For us, it’s now time to get to work and focus on preparing for a special season, one that provides thousands of new memories for our fans in 2021.”
Each of the Appalachian League’s 10 teams are currently in process of rebranding with new team names and logos. The Burlington organization has contracted Studio Simon to handle the rebranding operation.
“We’ve never had the opportunity to brand ourselves as Burlington, as Alamance County, so we’re really excited for that challenge and opportunity,” Rathbun told the Times-News in September. “People are sad that minor league baseball left, but really in total, they’re going to get a brand-new, community-centered team, something that they’ve never had.”
A one-game Appalachian League Championship is scheduled for Aug. 9. A league-wide shutdown will occur July 5-7 to allow teams to shuffle their rosters following the conclusion of the college baseball postseason.
An Appalachian League All-Star Game is set for July 27 as part of a two-day event to be held at a host city to be later named.
“We continue to work diligently on this revamped system and cannot wait to welcome Appalachian League baseball back into our communities on Thursday, June 3,” Appalachian League president Dan Moushon said in a statement. “We are also excited to announce that we will host an All-Star Game for the first time in our history in 2021 and look forward creating a fun, community-based event surrounding that game for our players and fans.”
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