This is the third in a series of stories leading up the Mississippi Braves home opener on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the final season for the team in the Jackson area.Excluding a one-year interruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Ole Miss baseball and Mississippi State have played a one-off nonconference game in Jackson or Pearl in every season since 1980.

Initially, the Rebels and Bulldogs competed for the Mayor's Trophy at Smith-Wills Stadium. Since 2007, they've battled for the Governor's Cup at Trustmark Park, which houses the Double-A Mississippi Braves. Southern Miss has become a regular attraction at Trustmark Park, too. The Rebels and Golden Eagles have battled there in all but two seasons since 2006. Bar a three-season hiatus from 2018-20, USM has met Mississippi State at Trustmark annually since 2009.

At the end of 2024, Trustmark Park will no longer have a regular tenant. The Braves are scheduled to move to Columbus, Georgia, leaving Jackson and Pearl without a minor league organization to house ― and putting future college baseball trips to the area in doubt.

"We're watching it," Mississippi State coach Chris Lemonis told The Clarion Ledger. "I mean, we're still under contract and some of that stuff, so it hasn’t really been a conversation yet. But you do have a concern."

Field conditions headline the list of potential hangups.

Without receiving regular attention from a dedicated grounds crew, would Trustmark Park remain a suitable playing surface for high-level collegiate teams?

Even with the Braves in place, groundskeeping issues led to the cancellation of a game between Ole Miss and Southern Miss last season. Newly laid infield sod hadn't taken well. After a few players appeared to lose their footing running on the surface, the game was called off in the fourth inning.

"It's the right thing," Rebels coach Mike Bianco said at the time. "It's disappointing, obviously, for both teams to come all this way, to get this deep into the game, have this many fans here and not play. So, obviously, there's a lot of disappointment around for everybody. But at the end of the day, it's the right thing. Nobody wants to lose a player midseason to bad field conditions."

When asked about the future of the Governor's Cup in March, Bianco, like Lemonis, said the uncertainty surrounding Trustmark Park made it tough to know.

"I don’t know what’s going to happen to the stadium. I don’t know what’s going to happen to the field," Bianco told The Clarion Ledger. "It’s hard to just maintain a stadium. And certainly, there’s a huge price just to keep the infrastructure going and do those types of things but not have a permanent resident. I don’t know what that looks like in the future."

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Bianco said he still finds value for his program in playing these showcase games in the Jackson area. However, he said, it's a difficult trip, and believes the situation has evolved since the Rebels and Bulldogs competed for the first Mayor's Trophy. Mississippi State holds a 21-18 lead in both iterations of the event.

"There’s a lot of plusses to be down there in that area," Bianco said. "But the truth of the matter is, when they started this back in the 80s, the people never came to Oxford. Now a lot of those people do, or get to see us on television, when there was never that. Now you can see every game that’s being played in Oxford on television."

Mississippi State beat writer Stefan Krajisnik contributed to this report.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: What Mississippi Braves' departure means for college baseball in Jackson