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The Tri-City Dust Devils will play their final game of the 2010 season tonight after losing 5-3 to the Spokane Indians on Saturday at Gesa Stadium.
The game won't mean anything in the season standings -- the Dust Devils were eliminated from a Northwest League playoff berth last Tuesday -- but it's far from meaningless.
Win or lose, Tri-City can set the franchise attendance record for the fourth straight season tonight if it reaches 2,992 fans, a mark that should be easily attainable with a good walk-up crowd, according to Dust Devils vice president and general manager Derrel Ebert.
That mark would give the Dust Devils 84,199 fans on the year, eclipsing the mark of 84,198 -- an average of 2,216 per game -- set last year.
"Fans can be a part of a fourth-straight year of breaking the attendance record," said Ebert, who noted that 700 tickets still remain for tonight's regular-season finale, which features a post-game fireworks display sponsored by U.S. Cellular.
Ebert was part of the Brett Brothers management team that began turning around the Dust Devils franchise in 2004, making stadium improvements as well as increasing fan involvement.
"We got the ball rolling (in 2004), but I never got to break the record. That would be the highlight of my career," said Ebert, who took over as GM of the High Desert Mavericks in 2007 before accepting a similar position with the Bellingham Belles in 2009. He returned to Tri-City this season.
"(An attendance record) means a lot. We appreciate the fans supporting us. It says a lot about the community," said Dust Devils second baseman Dominic Altobelli, who finished the night 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.
But Altobelli's good night at the plate was one of the few for Tri-City, which struggled to plate runs despite having several opportunities to do so. The Dust Devils left 11 runners on base and finished 2-of-8 with runners in scoring position.
Nathan Hines added a pair of runs for Tri-City, which will finish in the East Division cellar for the first time in the team's 10-year history.
"You can't go out and win 40 games every year," said Dust Devils manager Fred Ocasio, who earned the 2009 NWL manager of the year honors after his team set a Colorado Rockies' short-season mark with 47 regular-season victories. "But our pitching was good this year."
Meanwhile, Spokane, which earned a spot in the East Division playoffs by winning the first half, took control early and never trailed.
The Indians scored two runs in the first, another in the fourth and two more in the sixth on Michael Olt's two-run home run to left field -- his ninth of the season.
"(Clinching the first half title) has been a huge advantage," said Olt, a supplemental first-round pick out of the University of Connecticut. "We've been able to rest some guys, and our pitchers are going to be fresh."
Tri-City starter Edwar Cabrera (1-8) took the loss, allowing three runs -- two earned -- on five hits in four innings. Carlos Melo (1-0) picked up his first win, allowing just one run on five hits in five innings.
Notes: With his eight innings of two-hit shutout ball Friday night, Dust Devils starter Josh Hungerman locked up the NWL ERA title. Hungerman, a 17th-round draft pick out of Cleveland State in 2009, finished with a 2.18 ERA. and also placed second in strikeouts with 77. Teammate Edwar Cabrera leads the NWL in strikeouts with 80. In fact, three Dust Devils starters -- Hungerman, Erik Stavert (2.90) and Cabrera (2.99) -- ranked among the top 10 in NWL ERA ... Matchups for today's regular-season finale will feature Tri-City right-hander Josh Slaats (1-2, 1.91 ERA) up against Spokane righty Tim Stanford.
