More baseball is coming to Biloxi, with the Cotton States League expanding to a Coastal Division and playing games in June and July.
The Coastal Division league will be offering a chance for up to 150 collegiate players to play for six to eight teams, with games being played at MGM Park, Biloxi High School and A.J. Holloway Sports Complex on Friday nights, Saturday afternoons, Sunday afternoon, and Monday night. The teams will play three games a weekend and have a regular season includes 20 scheduled games a team with a League Championship Series beginning on Friday, July 23 and concluding with the LCS Championship Game on Sunday, July 25.
Former Major Leaguer and Biloxi native Barry Lyons, whose 14-year pro career included being a member of the 1986 Mets World Champion team, has been named as spokesperson, ambassador and coach for the league. Lyons, who was instrumental in seeing the city construct MGM Park, is also a league owner. State Rep. Hank Zuber of Ocean Springs serves as league commissioner.
Teams – with such names as Biloxi Bacon, Gulfport Gamblers, Ocean Springs Ospreys, Bay St Louis Seagulls, D’Iberville Dolphins, Pascagoula Pelicans – will have a roster of 12 positions players and six pitchers only. Coaching staffs are assembled and the website is updated. All registration is done on-line at www.cottonstatesleague.com. Games are scheduled to begin June 4. Wood bats, two uniforms (with home and away jerseys and a hat) will be provided.Â
Stats will be posted at the conclusion of each day’s games and can be found on the Cotton States web site. A local radio partner is being sought for a Sunday afternoon “Game of the Week.â€
The Cotton States League was originally founded on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 1902 as a minor league for Major League Baseball. The League has been in and out of existence in the South over the past 119 years being having been shut down due to wars, pandemics and depressions. However, since 2009 the Cotton States Baseball League-North has been a successful wood-bat league in North Mississippi having college players participate from all over the United States. Details: CSBL office at (662) 539-2440 or Barry Lyons at (228) 324-2527 or find the Cotton States on Twitter @cottonstates and on Facebook at Cotton States League.
Read the CSBL announcement
More on Barry Lyons
The league management
The local names and logos
See the Cotton States website
