When the Mississippi Braves closed out their 20th and final season in 2024 at Trustmark Park, many people wondered what would happen with the 8,480-seat stadium.
While a new independent league team, the Mississippi Mud Monsters will begin playing for the historic Frontier League in the stadium in May, Trustmark Park will be getting plenty of other action beginning Friday.
The Mud Monsters and Belhaven University have announced a partnership that ensures the stadium will be the home of Blazers baseball until 2030.
The Blazers, members of NCAA Division III, will use Trustmark Park for games, practices, and showcases year-round as they compete within the Collegiate Conference of the South.
After venue hopping since 2020, the Blazers will kick off their home season Friday with a 4-game weekend series against Mount St. Mary. They will follow that up on Tuesday with a game against Southern Athletic Association member Rhodes College of Memphis, before taking their first road trip of the season.
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The Blazers will play 17 home games this season, but that is hardly all that will be going on at the Pearl stadium this Spring before the Mud Monsters arrive for their spring training on April 25 ahead of the season-opening series May 8 against the Florence Y’alls. The team also will play an exhibition on May 1.
“It’s a very exciting time here at Trustmark Park,” Andrew Seymour, Mud Monsters general manager, told the Clarion Ledger. “We have a bunch of cool things going on and Trustmark Park will be very busy in the spring and summer.”
In addition to the Belhaven home games as well as the 48 home games of the Mud Monsters, the stadium will host multiple community events as well as other concert-type events that have not been announced as of yet.
The Mississippi High School Activities Association will continue to hold its state championship series there in May.
For college baseball fans, big games will be back.
Ole Miss will play Southern Miss on March 18 and the Governor’s Cup between Ole Miss and Mississippi State will take place in Pearl on April 22.
“These will be really big for us,” Seymour said. “They will be some of the biggest crowds we will have all year… . That March 18 game will be a complete sellout. It is an eyeball-opportunity for our facility, and we will have everything ready to go for everyone.”
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Other changes are coming this spring as well as the Mud Monsters have signed new contracts for food and beverage at the stadium. In addition, the changing of signage throughout the stadium from Braves to Mud Monsters is a work in progress.
“Our landlords, Spectrum (a Mississippi company that is a subsidiary of Yates Construction),” Seymour said, “has contractors out here every day working on stuff, whether it is lighting, painting HVAC type of work or anything else you can imagine. It’s amazing. There’s a good buzz out here.”
Trustmark Park has already met the updated stadium requirements from Major League Baseball that are set to take effect in 2025. Those requirements included an increased visitor’s clubhouse, better training facilities, improved stadium lighting and more food preparation and dining areas. There also is a requirement for new locker rooms for female staff. That left the Pearl stadium with an advantage to luring something like the Frontier League ahead of time.
In addition, Poison lead singer Brett Michaels is bringing “Parti-Gras Tour” to Trustmark Park’s north parking lot for the Pearl Day Concert on April 26.The free concert event kicks off with Warrant at 7 p.m., followed by Michaels at 8:45 p.m.
“All of the ladies keep asking me about that one,” Seymour said, jokingly. “It should be a big crowd for that one.”
Upcoming events
- Feb. 15 − MS Mud Monsters Job Fair, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
- March 1 − Blue Cross / BS Kid’s Fun Run
- March 18 − Ole Miss vs Southern Miss
- March 29-31 − Junior League of Jackson “Touch a Truck”
- April 22 − Ole Miss vs Mississippi State
- April 25 − Mississippi Mud Monsters Spring Training begins
- April 26 − Pearl Day Concert in North parking lot
- April 29 − YMCA Healthy Kid’s Day, Interactive Day
- May 1 − Lancaster vs. Mississippi Mud Monsters, exhibition, 11 a.m.
- May 2 − Meet the Monsters, 5-7:30 p.m.
- May 3 − Fundraising Walk
- May 6 − Black Sox vs. Mississippi Mud Monsters, exhibition, 1 p.m.
- May 19-24 − MHSAA State Championship Baseball Series
Ross Reily is a writer for the Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter @GreenOkra1.
