Grizzlies set attendance record

FRESNO, Calif. -- In a banner night for the city of Fresno and the Central Valley baseball community, the Fresno Grizzlies established a new Chukchansi Park attendance record on the same evening they defeated their parent club, the San Francisco Giants, 4-3, in an exhibition contest.

A standing room-only crowd of 14,084 packed Chukchansi Park for the game, the Giants' first visit to Fresno since 2003.

The Giants struck first in their first time at-bat, but Fresno responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the opening inning against San Francisco starter Barry Zito. After the big leaguers took the lead back with two runs in the sixth, the Grizzlies responded with a run of their own to knot the score at 3-3.

In the seventh, after Travis Ishikawa reached on an error, Fresno's Ivan Ochoa doubled to deep center to score him with the deciding run.

Zito suffered the loss, while Fresno's Billy Sadler earned the win with an inning of scoreless relief.

The packed house also got a surprise following the fourth inning on the Chukchansi Park field. Grizzlies managing partner Chris Cummings was joined by Giants president and managing general partner Peter Magowan for a special ceremony in which the two men signed a renewal of the Player Development Contract between the Grizzlies and Giants. The relationship between the two clubs, which has existed since the Grizzlies' inaugural season in Fresno in 1998, was extended for two more summers through the 2010 season.

The announced crowd of 14,084 eclipsed the previous mark of 13,970 established on Aug. 31, 2006, when the Grizzlies defeated the Portland Beavers, 7-1, in their final home game of the campaign.

The regular season at Chukchansi Park begins on April 11 when Fresno hosts the Tucson Sidewinders in Pacific Coast League action. For more information on the Grizzlies game schedule and promotional calendar, please call (559) 320-HITS or visit fresnogrizzlies.com.