We had many sellout crowds and more record attendance yesterday, as the Fourth of July was a major draw in many Minor League Baseball and independent ballparks.
First, three more records went to the wayside, as the Columbia Fireflies (Low A; Sally League) drew 9,228 fans to Spirit Communications Park, the largest crowd in team history. Columbia fell in its series opener against the Charleston RiverDogs, 3-1. Monday marked the first professional baseball game in Columbia on the Fourth of July since the Capital City Bombers hosted the Augusta GreenJackets in 2004. This follows several other MiLB attendance records set over the weekend.
On Sunday, the Boise Hawks (Short Season A; Northwest League) welcomed a club-record 4,497 fans to Memorial Stadium. “We can’t say enough or thank the local community enough for the support they showed the Hawks these past four games with over 14,000 at Memorial Stadium.” said General Manager Bob Flannery. “Setting a new franchise record two years in a row says a lot about the Treasure Valley and our hard-working staff.”
And, finally, the Reno Aces (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) set an attendance record of 10,520 during the Fourth of July game at Greater Nevada Field.
Other noteworthy attendance news from the Fourth:
- The Iowa Cubs (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) defeated the Omaha Storm Chasers 4-3 at Principal Park in front of a sellout crowd of 13,151.
- The second-largest crowd at BB&T Ballpark saw the Winston-Salem Dash (High A; Carolina League) defeat the Myrtle Beach Pelicans before 8,147 fans, the second-largest crowd in BB&T Ballpark history. BB&T Ballpark has welcomed more than 8,000 fans in each of the last three Fourth of July games. The 2014 game is the only one with a larger crowd (8,184) than Monday’s installment. The Dash currently stand second in all of High-A baseball in overall and average attendance.
- The Richmond Flying Squirrels (Class AA; Eastern League) blasted three homers and scored a season-high 18 runs on 19 hits to defeat the Reading Fightin’ Phils 18-1 on Independence Day at The Diamond before a sellout crowd of 9,560 fans.
- A crowd of 11,457 at Frontier Field saw the Buffalo Bisons (Class AAA; International League) defeat the Rochester Red Wings 5-2.
- The Lansing Lugnuts (Low A; Midwest League) drew a season-high crowd of 10,639 to Cooley Law School Stadium for a 12-5 victory over the Dayton Dragons.
- The San Antonio Missions (Class AA; Texas League) lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to the Springfield Cardinals on Independence Day in front a season-high crowd of 8,243 at Wolff Stadium.
- The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Class AAA; International League) overcame an early deficit to defeat the Lehigh Valley IronPigs for a 5-2 triumph in front of a sellout crowd of 10,000 at PNC Field.
- The St. Paul Saints (independent; American Association) drew 9,973 to CHS Field for fireworks and a 9-2 victory over the Joplin Blasters.
- A capacity crowd of 5,219 at Intimidators Stadium saw the Kannapolis Intimidators (Low A; Sally League) stretch their winning streak to three, with an 8-2 win over the Hagerstown Suns.
- The Mobile BayBears (Class AA; Southern League) celebrated a 4th of July victory with a 7-3 final over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in front of a crowd of over 5,000 at Hank Aaron Stadium on Monday night — the largest home crowd of the season.