BlueClaws Win Attendance Championship

On the field this was not a very good season for the Lakewood BlueClaws as their 53-84 record was the worst in the South Atlantic League and also the worst in the 14 years the Phillies Class “A” team has called Lakewood its home. 

However in what is a true credit to the organization and their fans the BlueClaws led the league in attendance for the 14^th consecutive year as they edged out Greensboro for that honor.  For the 68 home games this season a total of 380,573 fans came through the turnstiles at FirstEnergy Park, an average of 5,597 fans per game.  While those were the lowest numbers in team history the BlueClaws did win the South Atlantic League attendance title by about 170 fans per game over the Grasshoppers.  At the other end were the Hagerstown Suns, who averaged only 979 fans per game.

The BlueClaws did have their share of highlights as they reached the 6-million mark in attendance on August 24^th making them the fastest team in league and New Jersey history to reach that milestone.  Ironically the 6-millionth fan was Connor Cino, who was the catcher on the state champion Toms River Little League All-Stars who were honored that night.

The 2014 season also saw Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels have his BlueClaws #19 jersey retired. that’s the number he wore while playing in Lakewood in 2003.   Local fans got a treat as Toms River North graduate Mark Leiter Jr. became just the second Shore Conference player to wear the BlueClaws uniform.  Leiter was 5-7 in Lakewood before being promoted to Clearwater where he went 4-5 and won his final start on Sunday after allowing just one run over 7 innings.

By the way mark your 2015 calendars for Thursday, April 9^th…that’s when the BlueClaws open their season at home against Kannapolis.

So while one season ends the other begins with the 2014 high school football season to open this weekend with a handful of games.  Several schools have opted to begin the season a week early and among the five games played will be Friday nights Red Bank Catholic at Wall contest which will mark the debut of new Crimson Knights coach Dan Curcione, a former assistant coach at Toms River North.  That game will be broadcast on the Shore Sports Network’s 1160/1310AM.

Another first on Friday will find Pinelands traveling to Donovan Catholic….the teams are not new to one another but it will be the first game for the Griffins under the school’s new name.