KINSTON — The Down East Bird Dawgs, Kinston’s new professional baseball team, announced their inaugural schedule on Monday.

Members of the independent Frontier League, the Bird Dawgs will open their season at home on May 9 against the Ottawa Titans.

The Bird Dawgs will play a 96-game schedule, including 48 games at Historic Grainger Stadium in Kinston.

The Bird Dawgs will be a part of the East Division, which is part of the Atlantic Conference of the Frontier League. Divisional opponents include the New Jersey Jackals, the New York Boulders Baseball, and the Sussex County Miners.

A press conference was held at Grainger Stadium in September announcing the Down East Bird Dawgs’ arrival in Kinston.

Cam McRae, leader of the investment group behind the Bird Dawgs, was also instrumental in bringing the Kinston Indians to town in 1994.

Shari Massengill will serve as general manager of the Bird Dawgs.

Like McRae, Massengill has been associated with professional baseball in North Carolina and the Kinston ballclub since the 1990s.

Massengill began as an office manager for the Indians before being promoted to general manager, where she served until 2010.

She then served as the assistant general manager of the Gwinnett Stripers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, for nearly a decade. Massengill’s accolades in baseball include winning the Calvin Falwell Award as the top executive in the Carolina League as well as being named the Rawlings Woman Executive of the Year in 2007.

Grainger Stadium will serve as the home of the Bird Dawgs in 2025.

First opened in 1949, Grainger Stadium has hosted professional and collegiate baseball for over 75 years and remains one of the oldest and most historic ballparks in professional baseball.

The stadium also hosts the annual Freedom Classic series between Navy and Air Force.

With the addition of the Bird Dawgs, the Frontier League has 18 franchises across the United States and Canada.

For more information, visit the Down East Bird Dawgs Facebook page.