BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU led the nation in baseball attendance for the eighth straight season according to the 2003 attendance rankings released by the NCAA.
The Tigers’ 2003 regular-season home attendance of 245,813 was No. 1 in the country, as LSU averaged 7,449 per game (33 games). LSU has finished first in the attendance survey each year since 1996.
LSU’s total home attendance — including NCAA Regional and Super Regional games — was 291,676, the highest in school history. The Tigers’ average home attendance, including the post-season contests, was 7,478.
Mississippi State finished No. 2 behind LSU in the 2003 attendance survey with a regular-season total of 201,015. The rest of the Top 10 included Texas (188,959), Texas A&M (179,720), Alabama (163,549), Nebraska (150,459), Florida State (135,220), Rice (119,479), Arizona State (113,580) and Clemson (109,696).
The 2004 LSU baseball squad is in its second week of the four-week fall practice period, which features several intra-squad scrimmages in Alex Box Stadium. All scrimmages and practices are open to the public.
The Tigers open the 2004 season Feb. 13 at Central Florida. LSU returns eight starting position players and six pitchers from its 2003 club, which captured the SEC championship and advanced to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
2003 NCAA College Baseball Attendance (Regular Season) | |
TEAM | ATTENDANCE |
1. LSU | 245,813 |
2. Mississippi State | 201,015 |
3. Texas | 188,959 |
4. Texas A&M | 179,720 |
5. Alabama | 163,549 |
6. Nebraska | 150,459 |
7. Florida State | 135,220 |
8. Rice | 119,479 |
9. Arizona State | 113,580 |
10. Clemson | 109,696 |
LSU BASEBALL Attendance (1996-2003) | ||
YEAR | ATTENDANCE | RANK |
2003 | 291,676 | 1st |
2002 | 271,159 | 1st |
2001 | 276,622 | 1st |
2000 | 286,874 | 1st |
1999 | 271,888 | 1st |
1998 | 232,597 | 1st |
1997 | 252,864 | 1st |
1996 | 226,805 | 1st |