PEARL, Miss. (WLBT) – A new era of professional baseball officially began Thursday night as the Frontier League’s Mississippi Mud Monsters hosted the Florence Y’alls in its inaugural game at Trustmark Park.

Super Bowl-winning NFL player and Vicksburg native Malcolm Butler got the night started, throwing the ceremonial first pitch of the ballgame in front of an impressive crowd of 4,552 in attendance.

Former Mississippi State baseball star and Southaven native Brayland Skinner scored the first run in Mud Monsters history after crossing home plate thanks to a Y’alls errant throw to first base trying to get a Mud Monsters batter out in the bottom of the first inning.

The Y’all’s evened things up at one all in the top of the second inning with a fielder’s choice RBI to score a Florence runner. In the bottom of the second, Mud Monsters catcher Victor Diaz recorded the first-ever hit for the Monsters with a ground ball single straight up the middle through center field.

Starting Mud Monsters pitcher James Boeree held the Y’alls scoreless for the following two innings to end his first start on the mound for the Mud Monsters, pitching four innings while allowing no hits and an earned run along with three strikeouts.

The Mud Monsters retook the lead thanks to an RBI double by second baseman Travis Holt to score designated hitter Karrell Paz to make the score 2-1. Right fielder Kyle Booker then reached first base on a fielder’s choice to score Holt to increase the lead to 3-1 in the fourth inning.

Nicholas Hassan reached home plate on a fielder’s choice, Skinner secured an RBI bloop single to score Diaz, Cash hit an RBI single to left field, and Hattiesburg native Ti’Quan Forbes advanced on a fielder’s choice to score to increase the Mud Monsters lead to 6-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning.

With the bases loaded, Booker scored on a Bradshaw RBI single, and an errant throw to home plate allowed Cash to slide into home plate to increase the score to 9-1 before Roberto Gonzalez hit a SAC fly to right field to score a Mud Monsters runner to make the score 10-1.

After four scoreless innings from the bullpen arms, the Mud Monsters allowed a run in the top of the eighth inning to make it 10-2 before the Mud Monsters responded with three runs of their own to make the score 13-2 over the Y’alls.

Florence native and Mississippi College grad Jackson Smith entered the game and went through the Y’alls batters in order on the mound in the top of the ninth to close out the historic, emphatic 13-2 win for the Mud Monsters’ first-ever win in its inaugural game.

Skinner and Bradshaw went 2-4 at the plate with an RBI, and Diaz went 2-3 to highlight a 16-hit performance for the Mud Monsters’ offense.

Tyree Thompson secured the win for Mississippi on the mound.

Click here to view the box score.

They will host the Y’alls again on Friday through Sunday.

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