73
Turnstile attendance is up an average of 7.4 percent over last year for University of Hawaii baseball, and crowd figures could hit a 15-year high this season.
With one home series remaining at Les Murakami Stadium, the Rainbows have drawn an average of 2,160 fans. Last year they averaged 2,012, a decade high, according to UH figures.
Meanwhile unaudited ticket revenue has amounted to $368,453, already well above 2010’s season total of $347,059 with the San Jose State series remaining next week.
“Stan Sheriff (the late athletic director) used to say that fans vote with their wallets,” UH athletic director Jim Donovan said. “If you’re winning, they’ll come out.”
UH is 22-17 and 7-1 in the Western Athletic Conference entering this weekend’s series at Fresno State, which begins tomorrow.
“I think a large part of that is that Coach Mike (Trapasso) began recruiting more local kids, they went to the NCAAs last year, we’ve lowered ticket and concession prices and he has booked a competitive schedule with some name schools,” Donovan said. “It is a value proposition and when something is fun and affordable, people will come out.”
“We’ve had great crowds all year and not just in numbers but also in energy,” Trapasso said. “We’re coming off a WAC championship year and the excitement created by that combined with some of the teams we’ve been playing and the impact some of our local players playing prominent roles has helped.”
Meanwhile, men’s volleyball showed a 4.7 percent rise in attendance, UH officials said.
The Warriors drew an average of 2,392 per match this season, up from 2,283 in 2010. Unaudited ticket revenue, however, dropped from $291,014 to $275,626. A contributing factor, UH officials said, was that student admittance was included without charge under the student athletic fee plan.
