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WCL Victoria HabourCats

HarbourCats Leading WCL in Attendance

June 23, 2014 - West Coast League (WCL)
Victoria HabourCats News Release


VICTORIA, B.C. - Fans, we thank you. And we think the numbers will only grow from here.

Going into Monday's home game against the Bend Elks (7:11pm, Sports Traders Diamond at Royal Athletic Park, www.harbourcats.com/tickets), your Victoria HarbourCats lead the West Coast League in average attendance with 1,457 per game (six home games). All WCL regular season home games so far have been weeknight games, as the team's schedule is heavy on weekend games, and five afternoon games to come, when the schedule moves to July and August.

"We think that number can grow with the way our schedule is shaped in the last half of the season," said General Manager Jim Swanson. "We have an important three-game home series with the Bend Elks that starts tonight, and then we're into our Canada Day series with the Kitsap Blue Jackets visiting Victoria. All our Friday-Saturday-Sunday dates are still to come.

"We believe that with this market, with the support of the City of Victoria and the facility we play in, and with hard work and creativity in our marketing efforts, it's possible for our support to reach 2,000 or more per game on average. We know this, the atmosphere at the park when there are those big-crowd nights, it's electric, and the players and coaches have commented on how they feed off that as well."

The HarbourCats have 21 home games remaining, and the season-high crowd to date was a Tuesday, the 3,038 on Opening Night. The first Bobblehead Night in team history, featuring Kelly Norris-Jones, gave that game a great feeling and energy as well.

"What is encouraging is how many different people we see at games, coming out and having fun, it's not the same fans every night," said Swanson. "There are a lot of exciting events to come. We still have fireworks nights, our Harvey the HarbourCat Bobblehead Night, a baseball card giveaway, and some very special things planned for our first afternoon game, which is on Canada Day. The things we're doing to have fun at the park this season seem to have our fans smiling and enjoying themselves, and that's the whole point. The food service options, the between-innings shenanigans, and our affordable price points seem to be a good mixture."

STARTING PITCHING ROTATION - Head Coach Bob Miller has named his starting rotation for the Bend Elks series, that goes Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday at Sports Traders Diamond at Royal Athletic Park. First pitch tonight is 7:11pm.

Monday - RHP Andrew Nelson, University of Kentucky - 0-2, 5.58 ERA in two starts, victimized by four unearned runs in those starts

Tuesday - RHP Logan Lombana, Long Beach State - 0-1, 1.63 in two starts, seven strikeouts and just two walks in 11 innings

Wednesday - RHP Mikey Wright, San Jose State - 2-1, 3.50 in three games/two starts, 13 Ks and four walks, and 14 hits allowed, in 18 innings pitched.

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