Marshals announce inaugural baseball season schedule

The inaugural season for the Fort Smith Marshals, the baseball team in the newly formed Mid America League, will include a July 4 weekend home stand and the team has an agreement to play its first season at Crowder Field at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

The newly formed Mid America League in November selected Fort Smith as one of six team locations to play ball in May 2024. Lawrence, Kan.-based National Sports Services and Ventura Sports Group created the Mid America League, which the two groups say is “a new premium baseball development league.” According to Mid America, team selections were from regions with at least 100,000 population “with a solid business base, and will initially play in a combination of municipal and university facilities.”

Play for the Marshals begins May 23 with a four-game series at home against Texarkana, Texas. Steve Maddock was recently hired as the head coach for the inaugural season.

“The full season schedule is made up of 68 games; 34 home and 34 away with a 2 day All Star break in July with no League All Star game being played but an All Star team being announced,” noted in Wednesday’s (Feb. 21) press release from Marshals General Manager Greg Kigar.

Kigar said he is working with Fort Smith officials “on plans to enhance the Independence Day experience for the community.”

The new league includes the Abilene (Texas) Flying Bison, Sherman (Texas) Shadowcats, White Oak (Texas) Piney Woods TimberHogs, and as yet unnamed teams from Joplin, Mo., and Texarkana.

Info about tickets and other team information can be found at the team’s website, and at (479) 551-2247.