Sep 17, 2024 By Chris Dugan 2 min read

The Frontier League continued its southern expansion Tuesday when the growing independent baseball league announced the addition of an expansion franchise in Kinston, N.C.

The addition of Kinston, located in eastern North Carolina, comes on the heels of the Frontier League’s announcement last week that Pearl, Miss., will be added for 2025. The league will have 18 teams next season, divided into four divisions.

The Wild Things will play in a four-team division along with the Lake Erie Crushers, Florence Y’alls and Evansville Otters.

The Kinston team will be known as the Down East Bird Dawgs and play at 3,400-seat Grainger Stadium. Opened in 1949, Grainger Stadium has hosted professional baseball for more than 75 years, mostly in the Carolina League.

Kinston was a longtime affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, among other major league organizations. The last pro team in Kinston was a Texas Rangers affiliate that played its final game Sept. 8 and will relocate to Spartanburg, S.C., next year.

The Bird Dawgs’ primary owner is Cameron McRae, a businessman who was the original owner of the Kinston Indians and owns 72 Bojangles’ Famous Chicken restaurants and a golf course.

“We are excited to welcome the Down East Bird Dawgs to the Frontier League,” said league commissioner Steve Tahsler. “Beginning with our first visit to Kinston this spring, we have been overwhelmed with the passion and commitment … to keep professional baseball in Grainger Stadium.”

Down East will play in the Eastern Conference and the closest division opponent to Kinston will be the New Jersey Jackals, 533 miles away, or the same distance to Washington. Down East’s other division opponents will be Sussex County and New York.

Tahsler told the Observer-Reporter that there will not be an expansion draft for the teams in Pearl and Kinston.