For a brief time Saturday and Sunday the beach came to Rash Field in the Inner Harbor. Despite the sweltering heat on Sunday, the Pro Beach East men’s volleyball Start of Summer Beach Bash was a success, with over 4,400 fans in attendance over both days.

“The venue is a little unusual for us because we weren’t on a packed board walk,” said Pro Beach East Tour Director Don Abramson. It was the ninth annual tournament that Pro Beach East has held in Baltimore and it kicked off the tour’s four-stop schedule, which continues July 21-22 on the boardwalk in Ocean City, Md.

“The reason why we kick off the tour in Baltimore is because it is early enough to create the summer atmosphere before the summer has started to drag and wear on,” Abramson said.

Heat may have kept some fans away in the tournament’s final day. But players said they didn’t mind playing under the searing sun.

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“It is awesome to play with the skyline in the background,” said Mike DiPierro after he and partner Matt Heath won the tournament title. “All the spectators that come up out and see what is going and it is great to put on a show for them.”

Heath and DiPierro defeated the 2006 tournament champions Tim McNichols and Ihor Akinshyn even though McNichols and Akinshyn had the largest cheering section of any team playing on Sunday.

“We have friends in the city and they all come down to cheer us on so we feel like the home team here,” Akinshyn said.

“I find it a lot more interesting in terms of beach volleyball to bring this competition inside the city where more people gather and get exposed to it,” Akinshyn said. “This is a great sight, and I wish we had more tournaments here.”

Tour officials said they plan to come back to Baltimore next summer.

“We cannot get the big crowds at Baltimore that we can get at the beach,” Abramson said. “The boardwalk has thousands of people by any day in the summer and you cannot beat that.”