The Buffalo Bisons are hoping good summer weather and a team in a pennant race will help

them improve at the turnstiles this season just like they have in the standings.

The Bisons went over the 300,000 mark in tickets sold with their crowd of 11,281 for

Friday's 12-4 victory. Saturday's count of 17,527 pushed the season total to 318,214.

The Bisons entered Saturday seventh in the 14-team IL in average attendance (7,159) and

sixth in total tickets sold. Lehigh Valley, which plays in a 3-year-old stadium, was the

leader in both categories at 362,160 and 9,054.

During their difficult 2009 season, the Bisons ticket count of 529,789 and per-game average

of 8,027 were their lowest since Coca-Cola Field opened in 1988. As they head into the busy

summer portion of the schedule, the Bisons are down nearly 900 a game from last year's total

but optimistic they will make up that difference.

"We have a better schedule than last year," General Manager Mike Buczkowski said, citing

four more remaining Friday nights as well as four more of the popular Sunday Kids Days.

"Getting to 600,000 is realistic if the team is in the hunt at the end. And with the schedule,

it's a possibility."

The Bisons have nine more July home dates, starting Thursday against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre,

and 19 more in August-September before school returns to session. And they're banking on the

weather being good to them.

The Herd has had just one postponement so far, an April 16 contest against Pawtucket that

was wiped out due to fog and will be made up on Aug. 21. Buffalo has had at least four home

postponements in every season since 1994 and things have been much worse in recent years with

seven in each of the last two seasons and nine in 2007.

Good weather has followed the Bisons everywhere and they haven't lost a game to weather on

the road at all. They had 13 total postponements last year and have had at least eight for

seven straight years.

No rainouts means no run of late-season doubleheaders, which is often a big problem for

pitching staffs in a pennant race. The Bisons won't have to deal with that this year and it

gives them a better chance to stay in the race and keep fans interested.

"We completed one of the wettest Junes on record in Buffalo and we did not have a rainout,"

Buczkowski said. "The pattern has been almost the opposite of last year. [In 2009] we were

home and it was bad, we go on the road and the weather was decent.

"This year, all the rain we've had has pretty much come when we were away. The only game we

didn't play was the fog game. We've been very lucky."

. . .

Injured Buffalo slugger Mike Hessman, who is nursing his hand injury at the Mets' complex

in Port St. Lucie, Fla., has finally fallen out of the International League home run lead.

Hessman, who had 18 home runs when he was injured June 6 in Norfolk, was passed Friday

night when Durham's Dan Johnson hit Nos. 19 and 20 in a 10-5 loss to Louisville.

. . .

Friday's 12-4 victory over the Red Wings improved the Bisons to 6-0 in Friday home games

this season.

Rochester entered Saturday's game 2-16 against the top three teams in the International

League North this season. The Red Wings were 1-3 against the Bisons, 1-7 against Syracuse and

0-6 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Dillon Gee (7-5) will pitch tonight for the Bisons (6:30, Radio 1520 AM) in the opener of a

four-game showdown in Syracuse. The Bisons have only two more home games before the all-star

break, Thursday and Friday against Scranton. They have 61 games left in the season and 45 of

them are against North Division opponents.