Saarlouis Hornets start the season with a HYLO® home opener
After a long winter break and intensive preparations, the Saarlouis Hornets are beginning the new season of the 2. Baseball Bundesliga Südwest on Saturday 22/04/2023 with a HYLO® home opener. The standard double-header, i.e. two games in one day, will see the team meeting the Heidelberg Hedgehogs at the ballpark in Saarlouis from 12 p.m.
After finishing third in the pre-season, the team is seeking to at least reach the playoffs in this new season with its amended format. On four days each of home and away matches, the aim is to establish a good starting position for the second half of the season among the nine teams in the ranking round. Games on double-match days will have seven innings instead of the previous nine.
As well as changes to the league and gameplay, there are also some changes and returning faces among the team and its coaching staff. Tom Gapp, a familiar face who is the bedrock and a founding member of the team, is back as head coach. He first wore a Hornets jersey as a young boy, including in the 1. Bundesliga from 2000. This former national player then shaped the club’s second period of success as head coach, seeing it promoted three times in five years and bringing the Saarlouis Hornets back to the Bundesliga national league. With his return, the coach is taking over a team made up almost entirely of Saarlanders, most of whom he nurtured from talented youth players through to the national league.
A total of three new arrivals – including an import from the USA – are boosting the rosters of the first men’s team, as well as a rookie from the Hornets second team and two returnees. The young board, made up of former youth players who are all still actively involved in the game, is confident and fully motivated to begin a successful season with a good package. The fans have some exciting, entertaining games ahead.
At the HYLO® home opener, spectators will also have some delights in store off the field to celebrate the start of the season. As well as the usual Hornets catering, the modernised spectator area will be offering fresh draught beer, American BBQ specialities, burgers, chips and so on. There will also be a half-time rock show for fans to enjoy between the two games. A raffle will offer prizes of a tandem skydive, a photoshoot or a signed baseball bat. In short, there is plenty of fun awaiting us in the first highlight of this baseball year.
We are looking forward to an entertaining start to the new season with the Saarlouis Hornets and would like to wish them much luck and success.