Then there was the weather. There were a few days with highs in the 90s — including one famously hot weekday in early August — along with some wind-and-rain-and-dead-of-night stuff occasionally thrown in.

But all 72 times the Lancaster Barnstormers played a home game this year, Achtermann was there at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

“I make time for it, I make time for it every day ... I like to show my support that way,” Achtermann, 45, of Manheim Township, said before Sunday’s regular-season finale at the stadium.

Achtermann, who is single and usually attends the games alone, said he is known to Barnstormers regulars as “the guy who waves his arms around” down the first-base line.

“I love it ... I love the field, I love the atmosphere here and following the team, and the front office has always been helpful to me,” he said, settling into his end-of-the-row seat in Section 7, Row P, Seat 1.

Move over, Nittany Nation.

Lancaster has some dedicated fans, like Achtermann, for another team here — the two-year-old professional baseball team that will host its first-ever playoff game this evening.

The Barnstormers play the Atlantic City Surf in game two of their Atlantic League playoff series tonight at 7:05 at the stadium. They won the first game of the series Tuesday night in Atlantic City, 8-3. The Barnstormers would host the third and deciding game, if necessary, on Thursday evening.

If Lancaster wins the series, the league championship series would begin this weekend. And Achtermann will be there.

Not every faithful fan has been there for every game like Achtermann, but there are plenty for whom missing a game at the North Prince Street ballpark is as rare as pitching a no-hitter.

Achtermann, who works at Wissahickon Spring Water near Kutztown, made about half the home games in 2005, the team’s first season. He liked it so much he decided to become a “Diamond Club Member,” a season-ticket holder for three seasons.

Like Achtermann, Rick and Shirley Wagner of East Hempfield Township went to plenty of games (35 of them) in 2005, and decided to come back all the time this year, only missing three games while they were away on vacation.

“I wish we had had it 20 years ago,” Rick Wagner said Sunday, looking around the 6,000-seat stadium and wearing, like Achtermann, one of the game-worn jerseys the team auctioned off for charity this season.

His wife added, “Now that it’s here, I think it’s going to stay.

“I’m definitely a fan of baseball, plus there’s the atmosphere, the ushers (one of the team’s ushers hears this and jokingly takes a bow) and all the people ... they’re very friendly.”

Rick Wagner retired from the Manheim Auto Auction in 2002 after 36 years. His wife is retired from J.C. Penney.

Their sons played baseball, and “we really enjoy baseball ... plus, it’s cheap entertainment,” Mr. Wagner said.

“We decided we were going to follow someone ... and this is close, right here literally in our backyard, and we enjoy coming here. Plus, we can get home in five minutes.”

It’s not a five-minute trip from work for Achtermann, who has also become friends with some of the players on the team, many of whom have said thanks for his support, and even sometimes high-fived him on the way off the field.

“That means a lot,” he said Sunday, his scorebook at the ready and a pair of red headphones on hand to keep him up to speed on Sunday’s NASCAR race in Dover, Del.

“It’s a lot easier to get closer to the players at this level than at the Major League level,” he said, with a nod toward the field.

A case in point is Barnstormers first baseman Jeremy Todd, who played here last season but spent the early part of this season with the Dodgers’ minor league system.

Achtermann recalled that Todd actually remembered him when he saw him in the stands upon his return to Lancaster in June.

From his first-base vantage point, Achtermann likes how he can “really watch the catcher set up, how he wants to set the hitter up, call the signals, move the signals around, move the ball around. It’s a perfect spot.”

Looking around at his fellow fans starting to settle into their seats, Achtermann added: “That’s one thing that every fan here has in common ... we all played baseball at one time or another.”

Achtermann said his favorite memory from the season was when Todd hit a home run against Newark to break a 13-13 tie and win the game.

Pete and Mary Lou Cardascia of Ephrata are also among the most dedicated, having missed just a few games this season.

They also were the host family for catcher Manny Santana, who autographed a bat for their grandson Nathan when the little guy turned 4 in June.

“If I missed five or six games this season, that was about it,” said Mrs. Cardascia, who spent many of her summers as a kid in Williamsport, both her father’s hometown and also the hometown of the Little League World Series each summer.

For whatever reason, she never made it too often to the minor-league games in Reading or Harrisburg. “When I heard we were getting a team in Lancaster, I was ecstatic.”

The Cardascias are regulars in the last row in Section 17, in the area behind home plate.

Making the games hasn’t really been a hardship, “and it hasn’t meant putting our family aside,” says Mr. Cardascia, a tour host for Kreider Farms and a professional photographer.

Adds Mrs. Cardascia, “We’ve gotten to know people and made some new friends.

“And for me, when Manny is playing, I’m as nervous as any mother could be. When I see him get hit by a ball, I want to run down there on the field and make sure he’s OK.”

When she can’t make a game, Mrs. Cardascia, a substitute teacher’s aide and homemaker (and also a caregiver for her 89-year-old mother-in-law), listens to the game on her computer while she plays solitaire.

These obviously weren’t the only hard-core fans out in BarnstormerLand. The team drew a total of 370,176 fans for its 69 dates this year, an average of 5,365 per game.