The Durham Bulls have announced the release of their 2012 schedule. For the first time since 2009 the Bulls will begin their season at home on Thursday, April 5th against division-rival Gwinnett Braves at 7:05 PM. DOWNLOAD NOW

Capping the 2012 season is the Triple-A National Championship game to be held at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Tuesday, September 18th at 7:05 PM. It will mark the first time in almost 30 years the Triple-A Championship will be held east of the Mississippi River.

“Even though we recently fell a little short of our expectations for this season we are really excited about the schedule and National Championship game next season,” Durham Bulls General Manager Mike Birling said, “It’s a great schedule for the fans which hopefully will feature a league-record sixth straight division title.”

The schedule has several favorable features, including:

• A family-friendly, 64% of home dates in April on weekends
• Both Pawtucket (Boston Red Sox) and Scranton Wilkes-Barre (New York Yankees) visit the DBAP with games on $1 Thursdays and Friday night fireworks.
• A July 4th match up with the Norfolk Tides
• 11 of the final 16 games at home against divisional opponents.

The Bulls are currently taking registrations for 2012 season ticket information here. For more information, call the season ticket office at (919) 956-BULL.

Thanks to DBBC’s Matt DeMargel for this capcom story & graphic.