The official opener of the 78th AAABA Tournament brought a crowd of 6,444 fans to Sargent’s Stadium at the Point as Johnstown Mainline Pharmacy defeated Buffalo LDC Edge Baseball.
The night began with the traditional parade of players and coaching staffs from the 14 teams that had played games earlier in the day. The Flood City Corvette Club had another impressive showing while driving the 32 AAABA Ambassadors into the stadium as players, holding signs with the name of their respective franchise city followed.
The enthusiastic crowd included veterans of many AAABA Tournaments cheering side-by-side with first-time tournament fans as well as plenty of younger children who soaked up the atmosphere.
On the field, four Johnstown Mainline Pharmacy pitchers combined to strike out 17 Buffalo batters to give the home portion of the large crowd plenty to cheer about. Johnstown also had 11 hits, with lead-off man Erik Rhodes collecting three hits, including two triples. Alex Glumac also had a triple for Mainline Pharmacy.