Mud Monsters Return Home with Memorial Day Victory
Published on May 26, 2026 under Frontier League (FL)
Mississippi Mud Monsters News Release
Mississippi Mud Monsters stand for the National Anthem on Memorial Day
(Mississippi Mud Monsters)
PEARL, Miss. - On a very special Memorial Day Monday, the Mississippi Mud Monsters (7-9) returned home from their twelve-game road trip with a 6-3 victory over the Tri-City ValleyCats.
It marked the first-ever meeting between the two clubs with Mississippi competing in the Frontier League's Midwest Conference and Tri-City representing the Atlantic Conference.
Mississippi skipper Jay Pecci also faced his former manager for the first time after playing under Greg Tagert from 2005-2010 with the Gary SouthShore RailCats.
Art Joven got the start as he and the rest of the Mud Monsters donned special Memorial Day themed jerseys. The jerseys were auctioned off postgame with proceeds benefiting Children of Fallen Patriots while a fireworks display presented by Brown Bottling and Pepsi followed the game.
Samil De La Rosa wanted to get the fireworks started early after taking a two-out offering from Aiden Kelly and launching his first home run of the season over the left-field wall to open the scoring and put Mississippi ahead 1-0.
Wes Albert got the start for the ValleyCats but, after one inning, was lifted for Kelly.
The one-run score held until the bottom of the fourth when Kelly walked the first two batters to put Travis Holt and Jack Holman aboard. Tagert noticed the right-hander in discomfort and turned to Mason Martinez out of the bullpen.
Martinez surrendered an infield single to Kasten Furr to load the bases before back-to-back run-scoring fielder's choices by Nathan Rose and Andrew Semo extended Mississippi's lead to 3-0.
Tri-City got on the board in the fifth after Joven ran into trouble by hitting the first two batters of the inning and issuing a walk to load the bases. Joven finished his outing after five innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out two and walking four.
Braden Forsyth entered in relief and the first batter he faced, Jake Reinisch, knocked home Tri-City's first run on a broken-bat single into right field.
Forsyth proceeded to shut down the ValleyCats over the next two innings, allowing just one hit while striking out two.
After Forsyth completed his first inning of relief, the Mud Monsters plated three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Travis Holt and Jack Holman both singled before Furr dropped a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position.
The ValleyCats intentionally walked De La Rosa to load the bases before Rose delivered a sacrifice fly to score Holt.
Semo then walked to reload the bases for Slater Schield, who drove in both Holman and De La Rosa to stretch Mississippi's advantage to 6-1.
Tri-City answered with two runs in the eighth. After Forsyth's outing concluded, Seth McCartney entered and walked leadoff man Ian Walters.
The Brandon native responded by getting Kai Moody to line out for the inning's first out before Reinisch followed with a single. A bad-hop error then allowed pinch hitter Max Mandler to reach, bringing home Walters while moving Reinisch to third.
With runners at first and third, a balk brought home another run before McCartney issued another walk, and Jay Pecci turned to Chris Barraza out of the bullpen.
Facing a save situation, Barraza walked a batter to load the bases but escaped the inning by recording a bases-loaded strikeout before inducing a fly ball end the frame.
Barraza returned for the ninth and retired the ValleyCats in order, striking out the final two batters of the night to secure his third save of the season and lock down the 6-3 Memorial Day victory for Mississippi
After an off day tomorrow, the Mud Monsters continue their series against Tri-City on Wednesday morning. First pitch is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. CT. Right-hander Hunter Belton (0-1, 2.00) gets the start for Mississippi while fellow right-hander Gino Sabatine (0-1, 6.10) starts for the ValleyCats.
Images from this story
 Mississippi Mud Monsters stand for the National Anthem on Memorial Day |
Frontier League Stories from May 26, 2026
- Mud Monsters Return Home with Memorial Day Victory - Mississippi Mud Monsters
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