NOBODY TOOK ATTENDANCE, so we could only guess.
Various estimations ranged from 200 to 600 fans in the crowd to watch the Kitsap BlueJackets play the West Coast Guns in an exhibition baseball game Wednesday night at Civic Field in Port Angeles.
Dean Reynolds, who is part-owner of the BlueJackets, knows what 200 fans looks like, because that’s about what the team usually draws at its home field at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds.
“This looks like a little more than what we get,” Reynolds said near the end of the game.
The team’s other owner, Matt Acker, also was impressed by the turnout, citing the short notice — he first announced the game less than two weeks ago – and the rain that started to fall as the game was about to start.
And that is part of why the owners want to bring a West Coast League team to Port Angeles.
In Kitsap County, baseball fans wanting to see the next generation’s potential stars are close enough to the Tacoma Rainiers, the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate, that Acker said it takes away some of the luster of summer wood-bat baseball played by college players.
That isn’t the case for Port Angeles. Acker said in April that Port Angeles’ location is similar to other successful West Coast League franchises.
Of course, Acker and Reynolds are hoping the attendance will be much higher than 200-600 should Port Angeles become a permanent home for the West Coast League. Average league attendance is 1,128.
Officially, Wednesday was a benefit for Wilder Baseball, with whom the West Coast League would have to share Civic Field.
But it also was a bit of a test run.
It gave Port Angeles a taste of the West Coast League baseball.
The action itself wasn’t bad, overall. The West Coast Guns overcame a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the fourth inning and two more in the eighth to win 4-2.
The Guns, along with the Thurston Senators, serve as a sort of minor league for the BlueJackets.
It’s part of an organization that Acker has created.
Instead of signing players to short-term contracts and then discarding them, as Acker said many West Coast League teams do, he prefers to have a place to send players who aren’t quite ready for the level.
The Guns and Senators can move up to the BlueJackets, and BlueJackets can be sent down to the Guns or the Senators. All three teams practice together.
The crowd didn’t exactly go wild for the action. These were two teams, neither affiliated with Port Angeles, filled with unknown players from throughout the country.
But the fans couldn’t help but reacting with whistles and shouts to a bang-bang double play attempt late in the game.
And when the BlueJackets’ infield muffed a run-down, the fans groaned about the sloppiness. (In the players’ defense, they only started playing together earlier this week.)
The fans, though, were into talking about baseball.
They discussed the players: that one pitcher has a “nasty deuce”; and that so many of them are from Kentucky.
They talked about the game of baseball: the merits of the bunt, and the fundamental soundness, or lack thereof, of Robinson Cano’s fielding.
This also is part of Acker’s plan. He said in April that Civic Field allows fans to spread out and essentially hang out while watching baseball. If the score remains close, the fans’ attention will be less divided as the game goes on.
It’s an event as much as it is a baseball game.
Port Angeles also received a dose of the West Coast League show.
There were promotions in between innings, such as a balloon toss and a dizzy bat challenge.
There was a live singing of the national anthem, and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch.
There was a mascot, and a few boys wearing their little league uniforms even got a photo with it.
A little while later, those same boys convinced BlueJackets pitcher Eli Fultz, a former Bremerton High School star who pitched the first few innings Wednesday, to leave the dugout for a round of high-fives.
After the game, while waiting for hot dogs cooked by Wilder players, several BlueJackets autographed baseballs for kids. One player was nice enough them where to go to get more players to sign.
Acker said Wednesday that the deal to bring the West Coast League is just about finished.
Port Angeles showed Wednesday that it is at least interested in the product.
________
Sports Editor Lee Horton can be reached at 360-417-3525 or at lhorton@peninsuladailynews.com.
