Chattanooga Lookouts bouncing back attendance-wise in 2018

Fans pack into AT&T Field for opening day between the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Birmingham Barons on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Fans pack into AT&T Field for opening day between the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Birmingham Barons on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Chattanooga Lookouts have dodged raindrops and threatening forecasts in addition to Southern League opponents two months into the season.

photo Mascots Slider, left, and Loouise mingle in the crowd on opening day at AT&T Field during the game between the Lookouts and the Birmingham Barons on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Tonight's 7:15 matchup between the Lookouts and the Mobile BayBears at AT&T Field will mark Chattanooga's home finale for the first 70 games. The Lookouts will play their final 10 games of the first half on the road, which coincides with Friday's start to the nine-day Riverbend Festival.

"It's been a good year," Lookouts general manager Rich Mozingo said. "We've had some weather hiccups, but when we've been playing baseball, it's been great at the gates. We've had a strong first half."

The Lookouts were routed by the BayBears 17-4 Wednesday afternoon before an announced crowd of 1,865, which was the third-smallest of the season. With tonight's first-half home finale remaining, Chattanooga has averaged 3,531 fans per game and has produced a total attendance of 109,449 in 2018.

Chattanooga opened the season against visiting Birmingham before a sold-out crowd of 6,371, but that remains AT&T's lone sellout of the half. There have been two more crowds in excess of 5,000, with neither of those occurring over Memorial Day weekend.

photo Fans pack into AT&T Field for opening day between the Chattanooga Lookouts and the Birmingham Barons on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

"We've had so much rain in the area," Mozingo said. "It has been a crazy, wet spring, and sometimes with us, it doesn't matter what the weather is but what the weather forecast is. We had a 90 percent chance of rain leading up to all of Memorial Day weekend and played baseball those three days, but the weather forecast really hurt us."

Chattanooga's total attendance is on pace to surpass last year's figure of 209,948, and its current average is ahead of last year's 3,181 clip. Last year's numbers were the lowest in the history of AT&T Field, which opened before the 2000 season.

The Lookouts had four games washed out in the first half last year and three so far this season.

"We're on a pace to be up from where we were last year, but once again, it's a weather game," Mozingo said. "There is no telling what's going to happen tomorrow or next week. If the weather pattern continues like it has the last couple of years, we should be pretty dry in the second half, and we've got a lot of good promotions coming up."

Tonight's game will be followed by fireworks.

The Lookouts opened the bottom of the first inning Wednesday with a LaMonte Wade walk and a Brent Rooker RBI double to left field. That 1-0 lead stood until a brutal third inning, when Chattanooga starting pitcher Anthony Marzi allowed three singles, two doubles, two walks and threw two wild pitches before recording an out.

Marzi was replaced with two out in the third by Cody Stashak, who promptly allowed Brennon Lund's two-run double to left that padded Mobile's lead to 8-1. The Lookouts wound up yielding 17 hits and six walks in their most lopsided loss of the year.

Despite Wednesday's debacle before a less-than-stout crowd, the Lookouts do believe they compete in one of the league's best environments.

"The atmosphere in this park is as good as anywhere we've been," Rooker said. "It's got a really nice hometown feel being in the middle of downtown, and Chattanooga is a really cool city. The fans do a good job of providing a home-field advantage, and we love playing here."

Said first-year manager Tommy Watkins: "I would say it's right up there with the top of the league. Birmingham does a good job of getting a lot of people in there, but I would put this up there with Biloxi and Pensacola and places like that. It's definitely toward the top."

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.

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