Jackson Free Press

Spring is in full effect, and as college basketball ends and the NBA and NHL move toward their playoffs, MLB celebrates its opening week. Baseball returns each summer, serving as the buffer between basketball and football.

College baseball has been playing games for a while now, but the major leaguers are just getting started on a trip that will end for two teams in October. As MLB teams set their 40-man rosters, other players will go to one of several minor league levels. Players for the Atlanta Braves that go to Gwinnett County in Georgia are just a step away from being in the big leagues at Triple-A level. Players sent to Pearl, Miss., will play for the Mississippi Braves at the Double-A level.

This season marks the 11th season in Pearl for the Mississippi Braves since the team moved from Greenville, S.C., to Mississippi in 2005. The team plays its home games at Trustmark Park (1 Braves Way, 601-932-8788). It has made the playoffs three times and won the Southern League Championship in 2008.

The Mississippi Braves website reports that 90 players who have come through Pearl have gone on to play in the majors. Some of the players who have spent time with the M-Braves are Jason Heyward, Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur. Several stars from the Atlanta Braves have made an appearance in Pearl, as well, including Chipper Jones, Tom Glavine and Ben Sheets, who have all made rehab starts at the Double-A level or played a few games at Trustmark before Atlanta called them up to the big leagues.

Part of the experience of going to a M-Braves game is the promotions or events that are going on in a given night. Going to the ballpark for food, fireworks and fun is a great way to spend a night out. My wife and I took our one-and-a-half-year-old daughter last year, and my daughter still throws the souvenir baseball at me at least once a week.

This Thursday, April 9, the Mississippi Braves open the 2015 season at Trustmark Park against the Tennessee Smokies for a five-game series. The Braves hit the road and don't return to Pearl until April 20, when they begin a five-game series against the Chattanooga Lookouts.

For more information, visit mississippibraves.com.