A thin layer of snow covered the baseball diamond at Clipper Magazine Stadium Saturday morning, but inside the ticket office, thoughts were turning to warm weather and the hometown team, the Lancaster Barnstormers.

At 10 a.m., the team started selling single tickets for the 70 regular-season home games of 2012. The first 100 fans were to receive concession and ice park vouchers, and red T-shirts emblazoned with the team's nickname, "Stormers." The first 50 also were to receive vouchers for batting practice against pitching coach Marty Janzen.

Jim Auth, of Mount Joy, turned up first, at 9 a.m. He likes to be first in line; it's a habit he formed when his now-grown daughter was little, and he wanted to be in the front row of events, for her sake.

Plus, "I wanted my specific seats — Section 15, front row," right behind home plate, he said.

Auth hails from Boston, and he's a New England Patriots fan, but he's put his Super Bowl woes behind him. "It's baseball season now," he said.

Actually, opening night for the Barnstormers isn't until May 1, but there was a sense among those buying tickets Saturday that this first day of single-game ticket sales marked the return of baseball (this sense only should deepen later this week, when Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers report to spring training).

"It's definitely exciting for us," said Kristen Simon, assistant general manager of the Barnstormers. "It just means we're that much closer to baseball."

Tickets began selling online, as well as at the stadium. By 1 p.m. Saturday, the team had sold approximately 2,000 tickets and were expecting to sell about 10,000 by day's end, Simon said.

As a light snow fell late Saturday morning, pint-sized hockey players, from the Atlantic district of USA Hockey, skated around the ice rink inside the stadium. There were no cries of "play ball!" but rather, the clack of hockey sticks striking the ice.

Nevertheless, Jean Himelright, of East Petersburg, had her sights set on "warm weather and T-shirts," as she put it. "I hate winter and I cannot wait for spring," said Himelright, wearing a red Barnstormers jacket, a Christmas gift from her husband, Tony.

The couple were at the stadium to buy a five-game ticket package. She started to root for the Barnstormers before he did, "but he's actually become a fan, finally," she said, laughing.

He said he figured that "if I want to see my wife, I know where to find her — here."

Dan Sensenig of Ephrata had intended to buy only opening-night tickets, but ended up buying a "Playing with Fire" five-ticket package, which will allow him to see the themed fireworks shows the Barnstormers are introducing this year (the themes are Star Wars, Batman and Elvis).

Matt Smith, Sensenig's stepson, noted that it was the easiest upsell he'd ever seen.

"I'm probably close to [being] the No. 1 fan," Sensenig said.

"Self-proclaimed," Smith quipped.

Last season, his fervor earned him a feature in the team's game program. A room in his home is filled with Barnstormers' giveaways and newspaper articles about the team.

He said he and Smith — fans of the Phillies as well as of the Barnstormers — are "baseball junkies, just trying to get through the winter."

Sensenig said that his wife comes with him to Barnstormers' games, but "toward the end of the season, she says, 'I'm ready for baseball season to be over.' And I'm crying."

He wasn't crying Saturday. "Oh man," he said, "today's like new life."

Sensenig said he loves that in baseball, "there's always a chance to win. You can be down 10-0, in the ninth inning, with two outs and a full count," and still have a chance, even if it's an infinitesimal one, to prevail.

And growing up Mennonite, he said, "it's the game that we played."

Smith now lives in Washington, D.C. He said he wishes the Barnstormers, who are gearing up for their eighth season in the Atlantic League, had been around when he was a kid living in Lancaster County.

Many of the fans buying tickets Saturday spoke of the unique nature of minor-league baseball: the family-friendly prices and atmosphere, the game-day promotions, the proximity to the field, the opportunity to get to know players and coaches. "This is baseball ... Guys are playing for the love of the game," Auth said.

Patricia Rever, of Lancaster, said she went to more than 30 Barnstormers games last season, and would be at opening night this year. "I enjoy rooting for the players, I get their autographs," she said.

Pitching coach Janzen was on hand Saturday to sign autographs. Cylo, the team's mascot, signed, too, when he wasn't waving or shaking his furry tush at cars driving by on Prince Street.

Last September, the Barnstormers lost in the playoffs to the York Revolution.

But on this bleak winter day, hopes for the new baseball season were bright. "I think 2012 could be the year," declared Anthony DeMarco, the team's senior director of marketing. "I think something special is in the air."

Contact Sunday News staff writer Suzanne Cassidy at scassidy@lnpnews.com.