El Paso Triple-A team officially releases home schedule; 1st home game will be April 11
El Paso’s still unnamed Triple-A team will play its first home game on April 11, 2014.
MountainStar Sports Group, which owns the team, officially released the team’s home schedule on Monday morning, confirming the April 11 home opener ABC-7 reported on Friday.
“The Downtown Ballpark remains on schedule to be completed by April 2014. There are many variables which could impact the construction between now and then; the City of El Paso will complete the city-owned facility as expeditiously, safely, and efficiently as possible. Furthermore, we will continue to work with MountainStar Sports Group to ensure this community’s new Triple-A team has a world-class ballpark to call home,” said Bill Studer, deputy city manager regarding the ballpark construction.
The home schedule includes 72 home games of a 144-game schedule that will run through Sept. 1, the final game of the regular season.
The team opens its 2014 Pacific Coast League (PCL) campaign on April 3 with eight straight road games before returning to host Reno in a four-game series.
April will have just seven home games, while May will have 18. There will be 16 home games each in June and August and 14 in July.
The team will play in El Paso on four holidays, including Mother’s Day (May 11), Father’s Day (June 15), the three games leading up to the Fourth of July (July 1-3) and Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30-Sept. 1).
El Paso Triple-A, a member of the Pacific Southern Division, is slated to play seven of the PCL teams twice at home (Albuquerque, Fresno, Las Vegas, Reno, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Tacoma), each in four-game stints. The club also faces off with Nashville (Aug. 12-15), New Orleans (June 9-12) and Memphis (Aug. 16-19).
The PCL realigned its conference divisions for the 2014 season with Albuquerque, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City joining El Paso in the Pacific Southern division. Fresno, Reno, Sacramento and Tacoma will make up the Pacific Northern. Colorado Springs, Iowa, Oklahoma City and Omaha will be members of the American Northern and the American Southern will have Memphis, Nashville, New Orleans and Round Rock as its members.
The team takes a break July 14-16 for the Triple-A All-Star game between the PCL and International Leagues to be held in Durham, N.C.
MountainStar Sports Group had a public voting contest to name the El Paso team. The choices were Aardvarks, Desert Gators, Chihuahuas, Sun Dogs, and Buckaroos.
The ownership group has said they will announced the team name this year but have not set a specific date.
