Huskers Draw Nation's No. 2 Crowd Friday

The NCAA Lincoln Regional helped set the standard among host schools in attendance on the first day of the 2008 tournament on Friday, May 30. The hosts from Nebraska attracted a crowd of 6,367 for their opening-round win over Eastern Illinois, the second-largest crowd in the nation.

The only crowd larger than Nebraska's at Hawks Field on Friday at 1 p.m., was LSU's crowd of 7,671 at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La., for the Tigers' win over Texas Southern.

Rice attracted the third-largest crowd on opening day of the tournament with 4,734 at the Houston Regional, while Florida State had 4,570 fans witness its opening-round home loss to Bucknell in the Tallahassee Regional.

The Big 12 Conference was well-represented in the attendance rankings on Friday, as Oklahoma State produced the fifth-largest crowd with 4,000 fans at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium for the Stillwater Regional, while Texas A&M added 3,863 fans for its 15-1 victory over Illinois-Chicago.

None of the 10 other regional sites attracted crowds of more than 3,500 in Friday's opening-round games for the home teams.

Home Team Attendance in NCAA Regional Play (May 30)

1. LSU ? 7,671<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>

2. <?xml:namespace prefix="st1" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"?>Nebraska ? 6,367

3. Rice ? 4,734

4. Florida State ? 4,570

5. Oklahoma State ? 4,000

6. Texas A&M ? 3,863

7. Arizona State ? 3,425
8. Miami ? 3,080

9. North Carolina ? 2,826

10. Stanford ? 2,644

11. NC State ? 2,547

12. Cal StateFullerton ? 2,393
13. Georgia ? 2,255

14. Long Beach State ? 1,958

15. Coastal Carolina ? 1,620

 
- Michigan ? TBA (capacity 2,500)