After months of anticipation, professional baseball made its debut in Bowling Green on Friday night.

About 6,886 fans walked into a nearly complete stadium last Friday night, and got what most of them had hoped for: a win.

Breckenridge County junior J.D. Tucker and Grayson County sophomore Hannah Vincent bought standing-room-only tickets and enjoyed the game from the grass area along the first base line and the Home Run Grill area.

Tucker had worked on a class project where he went over the layout of the stadium before it was constructed and said that it looked pretty much the way he had thought it would.

“It’s about what I expected,” Tucker said. “For a smaller town, smaller team, it’s good.”

A wide range of fans were in attendance. Every age group was represented, from babies and the elderly to Western students and teachers alike, including President Gary Ransdell.

The opener was sold out, although there were a few unoccupied seats, and plenty of season tickets have been purchased, but the question remains – will the Hot Rods be able to hold onto the public’s short attention span and keep the stadium filled?

Both Tucker and Vincent think there will plenty of opportunities for the Bowling Green Ballpark to be filled.

“I don’t think that the crowds will be as big,” Vincent said, “but I think they’ll get a pretty decent crowd during the summer when there’s nothing else to do.”

Tucker said he feels that on special-event nights, such as the “Thirsty Thursday” and “Legends Game” nights, more people will show up, but there will always be the faithful fans who show up every chance they get.

The night got started by 30-plus first pitches, followed by the introduction of the Hot Rods starting line-up being driven from an opening in the left field wall to home plate.

Western wasn’t just represented in the crowd, however. A handful of former Western students are also employees of the Hot Rods.

Alumni have jobs in every sector of the organization. Leslie Sanderfur, a Bowling Green native, Western graduate and an account manager for the Hot Rods, spent most of her time during the game running around the stadium trying to get people lined up for promotions during the game.

“I absolutely loved it, even though I looked like a crazy-mad woman,” Sanderfur said about the hectic opening day.

Being from Bowling Green, Sanderfur knows more than most about what there is to do during the summer months, and admits it’s not much.

“(The addition of the Hot Rods) is the perfect fit,” Sanderfur said, “because most of Western’s sports kind of end, and so it’s perfect, and when (the Hot Rods’) season ends Western’s sports start back.”

The home crowd cheered on the many different firsts of the night: first pitch, first hit, first three-and-out, etc.

The first run came in the second inning when Hot Rods outfielder Jason Corder singled to right field and drove in catcher Michael McCormick. The Hot Rods went on to score twice more in the second inning to take a 3-0 lead early, eventually winning 8-4.

The Hot Rods are in action this week, starting a four-game series against West Virginia at 6:35 p.m. tonight.