a day at the park

It’s the 3rd of August, another sleepy, dusty, central Mississippi Sunday, and the Mississippi Mud Monsters are hosting the Schaumburg Boomers in a Frontier League doubleheader at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. … At 4:02 p.m., just before first pitch of Game 1, the crowd in the 6,000-plus seat ballpark is, uh, slim — think double digits — and the atmosphere subdued. Very. … The video board in left-center is “under repair” and displays only balls, strikes, outs and a basic linescore. … But there is music. And baseball. … Top of the first, Anthony Calarco, introduced as a former Ole Miss player, comes to the plate. The p.a. “taunts” him with the Mississippi State fight song. He rips an RBI double down the right-field line. There are cheers. … Bottom one, Brayland Skinner leads off with a double and comes in on a Travis Holt knock. … Kids behind the right-field fence can be heard razzing the Boomers right fielder. … Top second, Skinner, the Mud Monsters’ offensive catalyst, suffers an apparent leg injury tracking a fly ball. He limps off the field. … Third inning, Calarco, a hefty lefty hitter, rips another RBI hit. More cheers for the visitor. Boomers lead 2-1. … The “Chicken Dance” rings out on the p.a. after the third inning. It does little to inspire the scattered crowd. … Bottom four, the Mud-sters get two hits. But Boomers center fielder Banks Tolley — the St. Andrew’s grad — unleashes a laser to cut down Nilo Rijo at the plate. The sensational double play ends the inning. … Bottom five, the Boomers left fielder, Aaron Simmons, cuts down a runner at the plate to end that inning. Amazing. … Calarco is up in the sixth for his third at-bat. Cue the fight song. He crushes a line drive to left that clanks off Samil De La Rosa’s glove. Two batters later, Nick Podkul’s single up the middle makes it 3-1. … Bottom six, Jack Holman, recent addition to the Mississippi roster, smashes a double to the wall in center that Tolley almost reels in. A run scores, and it’s now 3-2 Schaumburg. … Some Mud-sters fans on the third-base side can be heard playfully mocking — “Rookie of the Year”-style — the anatomy of the Boomers pitcher, who has yielded only two runs. … Seventh inning: Chris Barraza replaces starter Brian Williams on the bump for Mississippi. Barraza walks four batters around a two-run hit by that man again, Calarco. … Following a much-needed visit from pitching coach Robert Carson, the former Hattiesburg High star and onetime big leaguer, Barraza fans two to end the inning. … The Mud-sters trail 5-2 going to the bottom of the final frame. … Hits by De La Rosa and Holt are squandered. A bouncer to the mound ends it. As the visitors quietly celebrate in the infield, the p.a. invites fans — who have grown in number, slightly — to have a catch on the field and stick around for Game 2. P.S. Mississippi pounds out 15 hits and rolls to a 12-6 win in the second game, the fourth game in two days between the teams. The announced attendance is 1,616.