MOOSIC — The third attempt was successful for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders, as the rain held off and baseball was played for the first time this year at PNC Field.
Following bad weather causing cancellations on the first two days of the RailRiders’ first home series of the year, the team invited fans to PNC Field on Thursday night.
The evening at the ballpark wasn’t perfect, but it was a welcome change from the heavy rain and strong wind that had disrupted the first two games of the week.
Christopher Algard, who traveled from Bloomsburg to attend Opening Night, expressed his contentment: “It doesn’t bother me, I’m just happy to be here.”
Algard was among a small group of fans who arrived when the gates opened at 5:30 p.m., about an hour before the first pitch at PNC Field. Many fans opted to wait in their cars for warmth before entering the ballpark.
The RailRiders began their home schedule against the Syracuse Mets, the Triple-A team in the New York Mets’ organization.
When a team like the Mets comes to town, there is a noticeable presence of orange and blue among the RailRiders hats and jerseys.
Algard, dressed in Mets gear, was one example of this.
“I’m excited to see Luisangel Acuña,” Algard mentioned, referring to the Triple-A Mets second baseman and the younger brother of MLB superstar Ronald Acuña, Jr. “And Drew Gilbert, because I’m a [University of] Tennessee fan.”
Upon entering, fans indulged in the traditional game day activities at PNC Field: enjoying a soft pretzel, browsing the RailRiders team store, and getting a picture with RailRiders mascot Champ, who was actively engaging with fans throughout the ballpark.
Locals were not the only ones attending the game at PNC Field — Brian Scott and David Bloomer, who traveled from New Jersey for Thursday’s game, can attest to that.
Bloomer mentioned that he had been attending games at PNC Field since before the Yankees relocated there, back to the days of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in the Philadelphia Phillies farm system.
Scott stated that he had been attending RailRiders games since 2018 and was looking forward to seeing young prospects Carlos Narvaez and Everson Pereira in Thursday’s game.
The pair kept an eye on the weather leading up to the week and were able to avoid making the trip for Tuesday’s game, which ended up being rained out.
“We were planning to come on Tuesday but we didn’t purchase tickets in advance due to the weather,” Bloomer explained. “We couldn’t make it yesterday, but that ended up being rained out too, so it worked out for us.”
