It is the crack of the baseball bat that Madison Mallard fans have been anticipating.

"Opening night, the wife got me a ticket, and got off work early," says fan Erik Koteles.

And he was among the many decked out in Mallards hats and t-shirts. There was one extreme case. Fan Bob Schenk proudly sported his Mallord tattoo. It took an hour and a half to have the mascot inked onto his shoulder, and he says it was worth it. "It is baseball the way it should be," he explains.

"It just seems like good small town fun. Everybody enjoys it. It is a nice family atmosphere," says Koteles.

Fan Terry Sweeney adds, "it is people playing the game for the love of the sport."

And judging by turn out, lots of fans seem to agree. 5,164 seats were full Wednesday night. That is less than average, but still impressive to Mallard's management since the park holds 7,500 with seats and standing room combined. The team sees such a good turn out partially because of a lot of hard work.

"We try to make the ball park a little bit better every year. We bring in a competitive group of guys. We've got a lot of players coming back from last years team which always makes it more fun. I think if we do that part of it then the fan part will take care of itself," says Mallard's General Manager Vern Stenman.