“Play Ball!”

The Biloxi Shuckers will play their first home game Saturday night at MGM Park and Mississippi Power was among the many entities working together to make opening night possible.

“With a very limited budget, we were required to provide an option to the city of Biloxi that maintained the highest level of reliability for the ball field and the Beau Rivage, as well as being aesthetically pleasing for the city,” said Matt Ball, engineering team leader. “Balancing both of those factors and providing an option that met the city’s budget was quite a challenge.”

Mississippi Power’s infrastructure work began in April 2013. A 23kV line was moved across the I-110 in April 2014. The company’s involvement in the project ended last month.

Some of the work the company performed included:

• More than 20 power poles installed, removed or transferred.
• More than three miles (16,000 feet) of wire installed
• More than 10,000 feet of wire removed.
• Twenty transformers installed, removed or transferred.
• More than 1,600 hours worked by Mississippi Power crews.

The 5,000-seat stadium features a pair of video boards that will play highlights, graphics and video of the crowd during games. The smaller board measures 12-by-48 feet and will be in left field. The larger board is a 32-by-46 foot giant overlooking the right centerfield bleachers.

“We energized service in mid-April and have been monitoring the system to make sure it’s performing reliably,” said James Evans, distribution engineer. “We’re keeping a close monitor on the integrity of our equipment because it’s a high profile job. The good news is we haven’t had any issues.”

First pitch between the Shuckers and the Mobile BayBears will be at 7:10 p.m.