Blue Crabs announce schedule

Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007

The Blue Crabs will open their season on a six-game road trip that starts against the Somerset (N.J.) Patriots on April 25, followed by a three-game series against the York (Pa.) Revolution, before they return home on May 2 to open a six-game home stand against the Lancaster (Pa.) Barnstormers and defending Atlantic League champion Newark Bears.

‘‘Now we have an official opening day to look forward to,” said Andy Frankel, senior director of marketing for the Blue Crabs. ‘‘One of the things we’ve been asked most frequently is, ‘When are you going to open up?’ Now we all have the dates that we can circle on our calendars.”

The Blue Crabs front office has begun formalizing ceremonies and festivities for opening day, though nothing has been made official.

‘‘We don’t have anything set in stone yet, but we plan on making the game a huge deal,” Frankel said. ‘‘You only get to do one inaugural game and we promise to deliver and make the game and festivities special.”

The 140-game regular season schedule includes 70 home games and 70 games on the road. The Blue Crabs will play each of the other seven Atlantic League teams 20 times. The home schedule features 19 games in May, 14 in June, 17 in July, 13 in August and seven in September.

Meanwhile, the first Blue Crabs general manager and field manager should be announced in the next few weeks, Frankel said. Preliminary interviews are done and the team is identifying finalists to bring back for a second interview. Frankel wouldn’t disclose any names of the candidates. Once the GM and manager are hired, one of their first tasks will be to scout and hire talent, an ongoing process that lasts right up until the start of the season.

In addition, the Blue Crabs will hold a seat selection event Nov. 12-15 at the Blue Crabs office for those who have made a deposit for one of three season-ticket packages. Ticket holders will be able to select their seats from a wall-sized seating chart according to priority based on when their deposit was made. They will also pick between three ticket packages, the full-season, 22-game premiere or standard 22-game package.

E-mail Brian Paglia at bpaglia@somdnews.com.