Lookouts rebound slightly at turnstiles

The Chattanooga Lookouts went out like a lamb Tuesday night, losing their home finale 9-2 to Jacksonville.

An announced AT&T Field crowd of 2,263 attended the game, giving Chattanooga a total home attendance of 214,811 for the season and an average of 3,206 per game. Each of those numbers is up from last season, when the Lookouts drew 209,948 fans and 3,181 per game.

“We’ve done a better job this year of asking people earlier to come out,” Lookouts general manager Rich Mozingo said Tuesday night, “and I really think our entertainment continues to go up and get better and better. We’ve done a great job of incorporating our video board with what we’re doing at the ballpark.

“We’ve also continued to increase our menu and our concession stands. We’ve done a better job of providing things that people enjoy.”

Although the Lookouts played before more fans this season at AT&T, their total attendance was the second-lowest in the facility’s 19-year history. Chattanooga’s average attendance was its third-worst, ranking ahead of last year and the 2016 average of 3,193.

Chattanooga’s average home attendance this season will rank sixth among the 10 Southern League teams.

“The conversation I’ve had within our league and inside this building is that we’ve fought weather all year long,” Mozingo said. “You hear on the news that it’s been an unbelievably rainy summer, and we’ve just had more rain than we’ve had in I don’t know how long. We’re fortunate to get the games in that we’ve gotten in.

“More than anything, we fought the forecast all summer long. When you get up in the morning and there is an 80 percent chance of rain, that changes the decisions of people. With what we faced, we actually had a pretty good year.”

The Lookouts dropped to 27-36 in the second half and 63-69 overall with Tuesday’s defeat. They are off today before closing the season with a fivegame series at Jackson, Tennessee.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@ timesfreepress.com or 423757-6524.