The Bats will open their 20th NIMBL season on Sunday, April 23 by hosting the Lightning at the American Legion Field in Gurnee, IL.  Game time is 10 a.m.

The Bats are hoping to put last season behind them when they finished 1-13 in the regular season and 0-1 in the playoffs.  The Lightning defeated the Bats twice last year so a victory on Sunday would be a welcome start toward that goal. 

Making their Bats debuts will be three new players for the 2017 campaign.  Earl Blankenship, Kevin Molbeck and Mike Steffy are all expected to see plenty of action this season and will have their work cut out for them.  They will be replacing Mike Ryan, Mike Anagnostopoulos, and Andy Liebmann who will not be playing with the club this year.  Also returning to the Bats is John Moulchin who spent the last three seasons playing for the Grays. 

Staying injury free will be the Bats greatest change from last year when the struggling team lost six infielders to the injury bug.  Manager Rich Skibski had few options due to those injuries so defense was often a problem.  The Bats are also hopeful the new additions will help spark an offense that averaged less than 4 runs per game last year.

The Bats next game will be on Sunday, April 30 at 10 a.m. against the Marauders at Plote Field in Lake in the Hills, Ill.