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| IRONPIGS NEWS & NOTES |
| With the baseball regular season rapidly approaching, check out this week's IronPigs news and notes with Spring Training now well underway. This week, we take a look at the possible return of John Ennis to the IronPigs bullpen and more: |
| City of Brotherly KOP-Love: One projected member of the IronPigs bullpen is former Arizona Diamonback Mike Koplove, who -- in parts of seven ML seasons with Arizona and Cleveland -- has gone 15-7, 3.82 ERA in 222 career games. But the new organization offers a trip home for the Philadelphia native, who was born and raised in the Philly suburbs and graduated from Chestnut Hill Academy (PA). An avid Philadelphia sports fan, Koplove earned the win in his first career appearance at Veterans Stadium -- May 13, 2003. |
| The Return of Hogs' 'Hondo': After his contract was sold to the Korean League late last season, RHP John Wayne Ennis has made his return to the Lehigh Valley and, most probably, the International League. Ennis initially signed Feb. 25 with the Lancaster Barnstormers of the independent Atlantic League, but recently accepted a minor league deal to rejoin the Phillies on March 3. He started the 2008 season with the IronPigs, going 4-3 with a 3.67 ERA in 40 relief appearances and a team-leading seven holds. |
| Happier Than Pigs in Seats?: The IronPigs put single-game tickets on sale for the first time beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, February 28 -- and wound up selling more tickets in Day One of Year Two than they did during their inaugural season. The team wound up selling just shy of 10,000 tickets -- nearly 1,000 tickets more then were sold prior to the 2008 season (which also included an Exhibition Game against the Philadelphia Phillies; a luxury not available in 2009). Lehigh Valley has also eclipsed its 2008 season tickets total for the upcoming campaign. |
| No Bo? Degs' Takes a Ride FROM the Reading: The have added long-time Reading Phillies play-by-play voice Steve Degler as a color analyst for all broadcasts on the IronPigs TV Network. Degler will team with returning members Mike Zambelli, Troy Hein, Matt Provence and Meredith Marakovits on the IronPigs TV Network. Last season’s color analyst, former Major Leaguer Ricky Bottalico, is expected to join the broadcasts for both the IronPigs and R-Phils on a limited basis. Degler, the longest tenured broadcaster in the Eastern League, will also continue as play-by-play announcer for all 20 televised R-Phils games on their Service Electric Cable TV2 Sports broadcasts. |
| The IronPigs next news and notes update is scheduled for Thursday, March 26. Once the season commences, news and notes updates will occur every Thursday afternoon. |
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