railcats sign former
major league pitcher jim crowell;
steve obenchain sold to calgary
August 7, 2007 Contact: Tom Nichols at (219) 882-2255
Gary, Ind.—The Gary SouthShore RailCats Professional Baseball Club announced today that left-handed pitcher Jim Crowell has been signed as a free agent. The club also announced that the contract of pitcher Steve Obenchain has been sold to the Calgary Vipers.
Crowell, who played at Valparaiso High School and the University of Indianapolis, is in his 13th season of professional baseball. He has spent parts of three seasons in the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and Florida Marlins. Crowell has pitched in 373 minor league games, posting a career record of 58-54 with a 4.03 earned run average and 40 saves. He has spent the last five seasons including part of this season at the Triple-A level. Crowell pitched at Ottawa and Syracuse earlier this season.
Crowell is expected to go into the set-up role in the RailCats bullpen that was occupied by Chad Blackwell prior to Blackwell's signing with the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
Obenchain pitched in 20 games for the RailCats this season, posting a record of 2-1 with a 3.57 ERA.
The RailCats roster stands at the Northern League limit of 22 players and will be frozen as of 11:59 p.m. tonight through the end of the playoffs. No additional moves are expected today.
The RailCats host Kansas City tonight at 7:00 p.m. at U. S. Steel Yard in Gary. The series continues with games Wednesday and Thursday at 7:00 p.m. before Calgary comes to town for a three game series Friday-Sunday. For tickets, call (219) 882-BALL (2255).
More Info: The Gary SouthShore RailCats are a Professional Minor League Baseball Team serving Northwest Indiana and Chicago's south suburbs. For the last four years, they have been chosen "Best Local Spectator Sport" by Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly. Their 96 game schedule includes 47 home games at beautiful U. S. Steel Yard, an award-winning 6,000 seat state-of-the-art facility located next to the Indiana Toll Road (I-90) with easy access to I-65.
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