Springfield Sliders

The Springfield Sliders are a collegiate summer wood-bat baseball team in the Central Illinois Collegiate League (CICL). They play at Robin Roberts Field at Lanphier Park and are based in the city of Springfield, Illinois. The Sliders formed in November 2007 [ [http://www.springfieldsliders.com/newsreleases/promo.html Springfield Sliders News] ] and were an expansion franchise for the 2008 season. The Sliders and other Collegiate summer leagues and teams exist to give top college players professional-like experience without effecting NCAA eligibility.

The CICL season is divided into two halves with the first half winner playing the second half winner in a best-of-three series. The Sliders dominated the first half of the 2008 season with a 20-4 record, winning by seven (7) games. Despite having the worst record of the second half, Springfield won the the CICL Regular Season Championship with a 30-17 record, leaving the 2nd place team 4.5 games behind. In the 2008 playoffs, Springfield defeated the Danville Dans in three games to win the 2008 CICL Championship. [ [http://www.ciclbaseball.com/2008trn/tournament.html 2008 Tournament] ]

History

The Sliders are the 3rd CICL franchise in Springfield, Illinois. The Springfield Capitals ceased operations to make way for a minor league team in 1978. The Springfield Rifles were members of the league from 1983 until the team folded after the 2006 season because of financial constraints. The Rifles played their home games at Lincoln Land Community College for all but one season, and suffered from extremely low attendance. [cite news | first = Chris | last = Dettro | title = Working the count: Sliders add to list of things to do around town | url = http://www.sj-r.com/news/x1196181916/Working-the-count-Sliders-add-to-list-of-things-to-do-around-town | work = The State Journal-Register | date = 2008-06-07 | accessdate = 2008-08-18] [ [http://www.ciclbaseball.com/index.php?view=posts&month=1&dispyear=2008 Springfield is back in the CICL] Accessed 6 June, 2008.] The Sliders won their first game in franchise history against The Quincy Gems 7-3 [ [http://www.wtax.com/item_detail.php?category_id=39&item_id=4994 News Radio 1240 WTAX Springfield, IL ] ] .

tadium

The Sliders play at historic Lanphier Park [ [http://www.geocities.com/shoeless1920/Springfield.html Robin Roberts Stadium at Lanphier Ball Park ] ] . The Stadium opened in 1928 and was renovated/expanded over the years to the current 5,000-seat capacity. Midwest league stats note that the park is a hitters park [ [http://mwlguide.com/cities/springfield/park.html Springfield's Fitzpatrick Stadium and Lanphier Park | MWLguide.com ] ] . The stadium has been the home to a number of minor league and independent teams since it opened in 1928.

* Field Dimensions: LF: 320 CF: 415 RF: 320

External links

* [http://www.springfieldsliders.com Official Site]
* [http://www.ciclbaseball.com/index.php?view=teaminfo&teamid=24 Springfield Sliders]

References