Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 15, 1995 TAG: 9508150045
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``We didn't have projections as such, but we were told by other people in baseball who had new parks that our attendance would roughly double,'' Avalanche general manager Sam Lazzaro said.
Right on schedule. After a seven-day, eight-game homestand at the new ballpark, the Avalanche had drawn 25,751 customers, an average of 3,678 per night.
That's more than double the average of 1,536 the Avalanche had going at old Municipal Field before moving to the new facility Aug.7.
The largest gallery in the new stadium was 6,421 on opening night. Apparently the increase in ticket prices at the start of the season has had no impact on attendance.
General admission stayed the same at $3 and reserved ($5) and box seat prices ($6) increased $1 each. The prices caused some grumbling when the move to the new stadium was delayed.
``We were planning to raise ticket prices anyway - they hadn't been raised in a long time - even if we didn't have the new stadium,'' Lazzaro said.
SMOKE FREE: Lazzaro is unsympathetic to those fans who have complained about the no smoking policy in the seats. There is a smoking area behind the grandstand.
``It's trend of the future and we are doing it at the request of our fans,'' he said. ``We're just catching heat because we're on the edge of the trend.''
WRONG NUMBER: They're still getting the hang of the internal phone system at the new stadium.
During one game last week, Avalanche manager Bill Hayes picked up the dugout phone.
``Get [pitcher Jeff] Sobkoviak up,'' he said.
After the befuddled party at the other end recovered, he told Hayes that he had rung up the pressbox and not the bullpen.
PARTNERS: Avalanche pitcher Brent Crowther and first baseman Colin Dixon are both from Vancouver but did not know each other until Crowther sought out Dixon earlier this year when he found out they'd be on the same team.
The two began working out together back home and a friendship developed. Now there's more to it than that.
The pair intends to go into a partnership on a commercial batting cage venture in Vancouver.
``There's not too much baseball in Vancouver and I think we can do well with this,'' Crowther said.
SHORTS: California Angels right-hander Phil Leftwich, soon to be a charter member of the Radford University Sports Hall of Fame, has been at Class AAA Vancouver rehabilitating a sore arm. Leftwich, who has been on the 60-day disabled list, has pitched in two games, going 1-0 with a 4.09 earned run average. With the Angels comfortably ahead of the Texas Rangers in the American League West, Leftwich may be available for the playoffs if needed. ... The Bluefield Orioles recently won 18 straight games, five short of the Appalachian League record set by the Johnson City Cardinals several years ago. Even though the Orioles then proceeded to go in the other direction, losing five straight, they still started the week 39-12 (.765) and are 15 games ahead of second-place Princeton in the Northern Division. ... Carolina League ERA and strikeout leader Bartolo Colo of Kinston will miss the rest of the season with a bone bruise in his right (pitching) arm. Colon (13-3) leads the circuit with a 1.96 ERA and 152 strikeouts in 129 innings. More trouble for Kinston, whom Salem is chasing for the Southern Division second-half title: Right-hander Daron Kirkreit, the Cleveland Indians first pick in the 1993 draft, also is lost for the year with a partially torn rotator cuff. ... Wilmington left-hander Glendon Rusch struck out a minor-league season high-tying 17 batters in a 4-0 victory over Lynchburg Aug.7.
by CNB