Fans enter the stadium from the plaza to witness the first Banana Ball game ever played in Delaware. Photo Credit: Ryan Colasanti

The Texas Tailgaters and Loco Beach Coconuts of the Banana Ball Championship League played the first ever Banana Ball game in Delaware in front of a sold out crowd Thursday, August 13.

 

WILMINGTON, DE — “You’re going to see the most entertainment during a baseball game with tricks and being fans first [both] players and staff.”

That’s how Texas Tailgater Zach Watson said he’d sum up Banana Ball in a sentence to a new fan. 

Watson got to meet with many new fans as Banana Ball took over Frawley Stadium, Thursday night, in the first ever Banana Ball game in Wilmington, Delaware. The game featured Watson’s team — the Texas Tailgaters — in a matchup against one of Banana Ball’s newest teams, the Loco Beach Coconuts.

Banana Ball isn’t a traditional baseball setting. For starters, the Coconuts were the home team but in this format they’re deemed the “headliners”. That’s because Banana Ball is geared to constantly entertain its fans with more than just the product on the field.

“I don’t think there’s ever a quiet moment,” Watson said.

Pregame

Fans lined up outside the front parking lot of Frawley Stadium around 3:00 p.m. waiting to enter the plaza area for the “rope drop” at 3:30. The plaza was themed in accordance with the weekend’s headliners. Beach themed signs, palm trees and surf boards transformed the parking lot into “Loco Beach”. The Coconuts’ players and staff greeted the fans under the Loco Beach Coconut themed archway and welcomed them into the plaza over three hours before the game was set to officially start. 

The minute fans enter the plaza their Banana Ball experience begins.

Fans could check out the merchandise available for both teams at merchandise tents or grab free refresher samples at the Dunkin truck. Tropical Smoothie Cafe served smoothies out of a small tiki hut and a couple of food trucks were available for hungry patrons.

The real excitement of the plaza experience wasn’t any of that though. It was the players and cast members themselves.

The players spent over an hour outside meeting with fans, taking pictures and signing autographs. Each interaction was genuine. Players not only signed but had a conversation with each family or fan that approached. Cast members like the Hulagans and Loco Beach lifeguards did the same, creating an environment completely in line with the Banana Ball motto of “Fans First. Entertain Always.”

“Just going out there and making sure a fan has the best time of their life,” Watson said. “Even if it’s trying to influence one fan, hoping they’re having fun and introduce yourself and talk to them, so yeah, fans first.”  

The players eventually left the plaza area, but some fans didn’t even notice, because a pregame party was erupting on the stage to the right of the stadium. The official band of the Coconuts — Sitting on Saturn — ushered in the start of the Loco Beach Live Show — a portion of the pregame festivities.

The Band

Sitting on Saturn is a band from California that found their way to Banana Ball through a direct message from Banana Ball creator Jesse Cole.

“I guess he saw like one of our TikToks and listened to like our album and was like ‘I’m starting up a team called the Coconuts and I would love if you guys would be like, you know, play some music for us’ and I’m like, ‘dude I’m so down’,” said lead singer Hoyt Yeatman.

The three person band includes guitar players and singers Yeatman and Kyle Hart as well as drummer Trevor Smith.

Yeatman and Hart said the band was thrown right into the action performing their first show with the Coconuts at Petco Park — the home of the San Diego Padres — in March of this year, becoming the official band of the Coconuts. The band travels with the team, plays pregame and postgame shows and are a part of the action during the game whether that be playing a song on the field or in the stands.

“We can’t like see what the players are doing behind us so we’re just playing our, what we normally do, and yeah, they’re dancing and stuff and we normally [don’t] see it until we watch the video after,” Hart said.

“We’ll be playing a song or something and then they have like a dance that they’re doing with us and it’s like you got the whole team, like it’s just like when two worlds collide kind of. I don’t think it’s ever really been done honestly. It’s cool,” Yeatman said.

Yeatman and Hart said their experience in Banana Ball and playing live music in coordination with a live baseball game is still a little strange, but it’s an experience they’re thankful to be a part of.

“Honestly, it’s cool. We have like our own baseball card, Banana Ball card, and I’m like, I would never in a million years think that our band would have like a baseball trading card, but like here it is,” Yeatman said. “It’s so cool we’re very blessed, very fortunate.”  

Game Time

The Loco Beach Live Show continued up until the gates to the field opened at 5:30 p.m. entertaining fans with the band’s music and interactive games coordinated by each team’s Banana Ball Host.

The entertainment didn’t stop once the fans entered the stadium. 

Even as fans were finding their seats or grabbing concessions for the game there was a member of the Banana Ball cast interacting with a fan, hosting an activity or setting up for the next activity.

As fans entered the stadium, the excitement to see the actual on field product was palpable. First time viewers speculated on what they were about to witness while some fans that had seen clips or portions of Banana Ball before, speculated on what trick plays they’d get to see. 

Once the clock hit 7:00 p.m. anticipation and speculation became reality.

Banana Ball is a fast-paced game that never lacks in action. Banana Ball rules like no mound visits, no bunting and no stepping out of the batter’s box keep the game moving to fit within the two hour time limit. The players on the field are always participating in something whether that be the game itself, cheering from outside the dugout or interacting with the audience from the field. 

“I say to anybody that’s joining, it’s Crossfit baseball,” Watson said. “You got two hours of nonstop movement. You don’t sit down ever.”

Some normal baseball rules still apply. There are nine defenders, one batter in the box and the pitcher still initiates the play with a pitch. The bases are the standard distance and when a runner crosses home it still counts as a run scored, though that doesn’t mean the team is up one to nothing.

In Banana Ball, the goal is to get the most points. Points are earned by winning an inning. The team that scores the most runs in an inning earns the point, making each frame its own mini game. The final inning is more traditional where every run that crosses the plate counts as a point. 

On Thursday, the Tailgaters won the game 6-3, earning a point with wins in the second, sixth and seventh innings. The Tailgaters also won the equalizer point awarded to the team with the most trick plays going into the final inning. The Tailgaters pulled off 14 trick play outs sending hitters back to the dugout with tag team catches and grabs with a cowboy hat. 

The trick plays are an exciting feature to what is still a competitive baseball game at its core. 

There is still plenty of entertainment to the product on the field. Players have creative walk-up dances, skits and antics during play. For example, after a hit by pitch the Coconuts recreated the scene of Jack and Rose from “Titanic” and during one at-bat Coconut player, Kaden Bowler, took an at-bat while riding a hoverboard designed to look like a surfboard. Those creative entertainment features add spectacle to what is a high level baseball game played by high level athletes. 

“It’s a completely different game than what you see on TikTok,” Watson said. “You just see the dances and everything mostly on TikTok so when you actually come to a game you’re like dang these boys are actually, we’re actually playing baseball. You don’t expect that.”  

Postgame

After the game is over there is still more to experience.

Players from both teams returned to the plaza to sign autographs and talk with fans. Sitting on Saturn played more music and the entertainment continued until about 9:30 p.m. when the venue closed. The postgame plaza party ends a Banana Ball experience that begins over three hours before a pitch is even thrown.

“I’m excited for these fans, if they have never been, to experience Banana Ball in a different way,” Watson told Delaware Live before the game.

The Tailgaters and Coconuts wrapped up their three game series in Delaware, Saturday night, with a 4-3 win from the Tailgaters giving them the 2-1 series win. The Tailgaters have already secured their spot in the Banana Ball Championship League postseason, but the Coconuts are still fighting to claim one of the three remaining spots. 

Fans that want to keep track of the rest of the 2026 Banana Ball World Tour can check the Banana Ball website for upcoming events and ways to watch the games.

Ryan Colasanti joins Delaware Live following four years at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. There he covered multiple sports for the school’s radio station as both a reporter and editor. Ryan is excited to return back to the state and cover all things Delaware sports.