PEARL — The Mississippi Braves have played their last game at Trustmark Park, but the stadium in Pearl will not be vacant next season.

Officials from the independent Frontier League announced Monday that an expansion team from the league will play at Trustmark Park beginning in 2025.

The Mississippi Braves have played in Pearl since 2005, but its owners announced earlier this year that they were moving the team to Columbus, Georgia, for the 2025 season.

The new Frontier League team will be owned by Joseph Eng, who also owns the Gary SouthShore RailCats of the American Association. TBH Sports & Entertainment will manage the team on behalf of Eng.

“What a beautiful day. Isn’t it great to say that baseball is staying here in Pearl, Mississippi? That’s the best thing you can say,” Eng said at a news conference Monday at Trustmark Park.

The Frontier League is a 16-team league that stretches from Massachusetts to Missouri. The new Pearl franchise will be the 17th team — an 18th will be added next week — and its southernmost outpost. Previously, the southernmost team was located in Evansville, Indiana.

A fan contest will be held to pick the team’s new name — Mississippi Mud Monsters, Mississippi Grits or Mississippi Soul Shakers. The online contest runs through Sept. 25.

Frontier League commissioner Steve Tahsler said Monday that the Pearl team will be in the West Division with teams located west of Pittsburgh. The East Division includes three teams from Canada, and others in the northeastern U.S.

“Largely regionalized play, or at least divisional play, but our fans do want to see the other teams,” Tahsler said. “So at some point the Québec Capitales and Trois-Rivières Aigles from French-speaking Canada will be in town and Mississippi will get to introduce their culture up there as well.”

Unlike the M-Braves, who are affiliated with the Atlanta Braves and work to send players to the Major League Baseball club, the Frontier League does not work with any specific MLB team.

The Frontier League instead has an official relationship with Major League Baseball, which means 30 MLB clubs can send and recall players from Frontier League teams. Five former Frontier League players made their MLB debuts in 2024.

Tahsler said his league’s teams focus on acquiring talented players who did not get an opportunity to latch on with an MLB club. Often, that means finding players from area college teams like the ones Mississippi is flush with.

Tahsler said players from most of Mississippi’s four-year teams have been with other Frontier League franchises in recent seasons.

“One of the benefits of our model is, because it’s the manager who puts the team together it’s a more regionalized team,” Tahsler said. “Next year those players now have an opportunity to play here in Pearl, Mississippi, where the fans know them, where they went to college, the fans know them, and they have a built-in safety net where they can showcase their talents.”

Tahsler said players in the Frontier League make about $1,500 a month, plus housing and food expenses. The league plays a 96-game schedule, with each team playing 48 games at home and 48 on the road during a season that runs from early May through Labor Day.

The M-Braves played a 140-game schedule in the eight-team Southern League, with 70 of those at home.

City of Pearl and team officials hope to fill the extra dates at Trustmark Park with events like concerts and food festivals to maintain it as a premiere entertainment venue in Central Mississippi.

“Some of it will come from the community we’ve been engaging with, whether that is non-profit events, 5K (runs), car shows,” TBH Sports & Entertainment president Brian Lyter said. “But something we’ll work on is holiday festivals, potentially a light show, music, food festivals, those sorts of things. I think it’ll be a combination of events that we’ll bring to the table and those we’ll facilitate as we get to the know the community.”

The Mississippi Braves played their final scheduled home game Sunday. A total of 4,411 fans turned out for the 10-3 loss to the Tennessee Smokies, bringing the total attendance for the team’s 20-year run in Pearl to 3,581,517.

The M-Braves are still alive for a berth in the Southern League playoffs, but must win five of six games in this week’s road series at Biloxi to get it.

Tahsler, Eng and others who spoke at Monday’s press conference praised the M-Braves for their long run in Pearl. They also believed that a new era is beginning that will last just as long, if not longer.

“We’ve got a lot of loyalty in our communities, we have a lot of great relationships,” Tahsler said. “We have traditional minor league towns, but we also have newer markets such as metropolitan Chicago, and St. Louis and Cincinnati. Both models work really well. Jackson, Mississippi and Pearl, Mississippi fits perfectly into our business model and our baseball model as well. We see growth for Frontier League in the southeast and that’s what has us so excited about this opportunity.”