Riverpigs to start season June 12; EBL tryouts June 6-10

by Rich Rosentreter

The Tupper Lake Riverpigs, a professional baseball team will start the season on June 12 at 7 p.m. with a home game against the New Hampshire Wild. The teams are part of the Empire Baseball League, an independent league whose skill level is considered equivalent to rookie ball at the Class A-level of minor league baseball.

From June 6 to 10, the league will host try-outs right at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park, the home of Riverpigs. The try-outs will be to fill the rosters of all the teams in the league. Registration is required by visiting the leagues website at empireproleague.com/tryouts/.

The Empire League is a professional baseball developmental independent league that was established 2015.

In addition to the Riverpigs and Wild, among the other teams is the Saranac Lake Surge.

More information about the Riverpigs and the upcoming season will appear in next week’s Free Press.

Editor's note about Riverpigs name: Instead of using two separate words in the name of the new Tupper Lake semi-pro baseball team, Empire League officials apparently opted to run the two names together as one, according to a check with the league's web site this week. In the giant forests of America's northwest, river pigs were the hearty lumberjacks who rode and directed the floating logs with pike poles.