ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — One of the best fan bases in the country boosted the St. Joseph Mustangs into the top 10 of the summer collegiate baseball attendance rankings once again in 2016.

Baseball Digest and Ballpark Biz announced that the Mustangs’ attendance landed in the top ten among all summer collegiate baseball teams in the country for the fourth consecutive season.

St. Joseph drew an average of 2,275 fans per game, which ranks seventh in the nation. The Mustangs saw a total attendance of 65,967 throughout the summer — an increase of more than 4,000 fans from the previous year. That total is the eighth most among all summer collegiate teams.

“We had a hot summer, and we even lost a Saturday night on 4th of July weekend to rain, and to still finish seventh in the nation is just a testament to how great this fan base is,” Mustangs’ general manager Ky Turner said.

St. Joe kicked the 2016 season off with a 7-3 win over the Ban Johnson Raiders in front of 4,493 fans at Phil Welch Stadium. That set a new opening night attendance record for the team.

The Mustangs’ largest crowd of the season came on July 16 which was Healthcare Appreciation Night and also featured a Mosaic Life Care Fireworks Spectacular after the game. Phil Welch Stadium saw 4,768 fans pack the stands that evening.

“The support the Mustangs receive from St. Joe is tremendous,” Turner said. “The people in this community have made Phil Welch Stadium and the Mustangs one of the top baseball stops in the country- we received phone calls from people who lived in Kentucky, Nebraska, and other states that wanted to visit a game because they had heard about the experience here.”

The Mustangs reached the playoffs in 2016 with a 36-17 record overall, 27-16 in the MINK.

— Mustangs Press Release —