Sports

Rock Stars, Record-Setting Crowd Catch Pirates Home Finale

McKechnie Field got visits from the Rays and Bradenton rockers We The Kings as the stadium set a season attendance mark.

You couldn't write a better script for Sunday's spring training finale at McKechnie Field.

Start with the gorgeous weather — 85 degrees and sunny at gametime.

Mix in some star power — visits from All-Stars David Price, Evan Longoria and Johnny Damon of the Tampa Bay Rays, plus the hometown heartthrobs from Bradenton power-pop rock band .

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Throw in a game-tying home run in the top ninth by the John Jaso of the Rays, the area's flagship major league franchise.

Top it off with a 5-4 walkoff win in the bottom of the ninth by the Pirates, Bradenton's adopted big league team each spring since 1969.

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Set it all before a backdrop of a sellout crowd of 6,583 fans who helped push the season attendance mark to 88,003 — an all-time record for the historic Bradenton stadium — and it made for a fitting send off.

The Pirates actually have one more game in Florida — Monday's matchup with the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers — before heading north for two more exhibitions in Philadelphia and then the start of the regular season.

The end of spring training also signals a return north for many fans who are also Bradenton snowbirds. Season-ticket holders Jeff and Sue Harton will soon be headed back to their part-time residence in Auburn, N.Y., with memories of another spring season and their prime seats behind home plate that used to belong to Jeff's late father.

"We love it," Sue Harton said. "We only missed one game this year."

The Hartons said they'll follow the Pirates all season long, although they're not sure this year's squad has what it takes to break a string of 18 consecutive losing seasons. Still, they're keeping the faith.

"It's spring," Jeff Harton reasoned. "Hope is eternal."

Also among the record-breaking crowd Sunday was Travis Clark, the tattooed, red-haired frontman of Bradenton's We The Kings, who just returned from touring the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia.

Clark led the crowd in a performance of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh-inning stretch (view the attached ) but said he was more nervous about the ceremonial first pitch he tossed before the game between his two favorite teams.

"I'm literally sitting on the field," Clark said moments before firing a ball past his catcher, Bradenton Marauders mascot Marty. "This is crazy. I'm going to get hit by a foul ball, I know it. That's how I'm going out."

The Pirates also treated the full house to a dramatic finish, when Josh Rodriguez scored the winning run on a throwing error with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

The win, just their fifth in 16 games at McKechnie, brought the Pirates' spring record to 11-19 — but that hasn't seemed to matter much tot he fans who've packed the ballpark's grandstands this year in record numbers. The 2011 attendance surpassed the previous mark of 87,206 in 2009.


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