The Princeton WhistlePigs were a

summer collegiate baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team of the

Appalachian League The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...

. They were located in

Princeton, West Virginia Princeton is a city in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. The population was 5,872 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Bluefield micropolitan area. History Early history Princeton was ...

, and played their home games at H. P. Hunnicutt Field. "Whistle pig" is an alternate name for a

groundhog The groundhog (''Marmota monax''), also known as the woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. A lowland creature of North America, it is found through much of the Easte ...

History

Princeton and H. P. Hunnicutt Field previously served as home to a

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team from 1988 to 2020, last known as the

Princeton Rays The Princeton Rays were a Minor League Baseball team in Princeton, West Virginia, operating as an Advanced Rookie-level team in the Appalachian League. The team was affiliated with several Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, primarily the Ta ...

. In conjunction with a contraction of the minor leagues beginning with the 2021 season, the Appalachian League was reorganized as a collegiate summer baseball league designed for rising college freshmen and sophomores. In the revamped league, the Rays were replaced by the WhistlePigs, who are scheduled to play their first game on June 3, 2021, hosting the Burlington Sock Puppets. After a 30-22 debut campaign in 2021, the Whistlepigs slumped to sub-.500 records in 2022 and 2023. After a 2023 campaign in which Princeton struggled to a 17-27 mark and finished last in the league in attendance, the franchise announced their departure from the Appalachian League and cessation of operations on October 11.

References

Appalachian League teams Baseball teams established in 2021 2021 establishments in West Virginia Amateur baseball teams in West Virginia Defunct baseball teams in West Virginia Sports in Princeton, West Virginia Baseball teams disestablished in 2023 2023 disestablishments in West Virginia {{WestVirginia-baseball-team-stub