BlueClaws Batter ‘Up for a 19th Season

They are as much a part of summer at the Jersey Shore as beaches, boardwalks,
barbecues and yes even bennies. They are part of a lifestyle that includes Seaside,
Point Pleasant Beach, Asbury Park, Belmar and LBI as well as Six Flags,
Monmouth Park, Jenkinson’s and the Stone Pony.

The Lakewood BlueClaws begin their 19th season tonight when they host the Hickory Crawdads in the first of 70 games at FirstEnergy Park with first pitch at 6:35.

The BlueClaws are the Class A affiliate of the Phillies and last season won the
Northern Division title before losing to Lexington in the South Atlantic League
Championship series. Lakewood has won three overall championships with the
last coming in 2010.

This year’s squad has a new manager in Mike Micucci who spent three seasons
with the Seattle Mariners organization and tonight will make his managerial debut.

The opening day roster includes 3rd baseman Alec Bohm of Wichita State
University who was the third overall pick in the June MLB Amateur Draft and is
expected to be the Phillies third baseman of the future.

Another player for fans to watch is 19-year old shortstop Luis Garcia who led the Gulf Coast League with a .369 batting average last summer.

Fans will not notice it during the opening home stand but later in April the
BlueClaws will unveil their new 1 st & 3 rd base picnic areas which will likely be a
big hit with groups throughout the season. Also new are several food items,
including the Mac Shack located on the third base concourse which will feature
(you guessed it) specialty mac-and-cheese and on the first base concourse you’ll
find Pop Fly Pierogies.

Back for a second season are the BlueClaws Mini Golf and Home Run Pavilion
Boardwalk Games and returning are fireworks, not only after every Friday night
game but starting in June on Thursdays and Saturdays as well.

For almost all of their 19 seasons our Shore Sports Network has been the radio
home of the team with all 140 regular season games (and hopefully playoffs) heard
on Beach Radio 1160/1310 and streamed live as well on shoresportsnetwork.com

As they say “BlueClaws Baseball…simply Clawsome!”