The Loco Beach Coconuts and Texas Tailgaters played the first ever Banana Ball series in Wilmington, Delaware, from August 13 – August 15.

Fans enter the plaza before the gates to the stadium officially open for the game.

A young fan dressed as a Banana walks around the plaza pregame.

Delaware resident Mike Husni came dressed in a hot dog costume to see Banana Ball in person for the first time.

Husni meets Tailgater assistant coach Andrew Bartman pregame.

A couple young Banana Ball fans pose for a picture with their signed yellow baseballs. Players from both teams spent over an hour in the plaza signing autographs before the game.

The Hulagans share the stage with the Coconuts’ traveling band “Sitting on Saturn” during the Loco Beach Live Show during the pregame festivities.

Tailgater head coach Joe Mikulik (No. 00) and Coconuts assistant coach Anthony Marks pose for a selfie with a group of fans on the field pregame.

Texas Tailgater Zach Watson leads off the first Banana Ball ever played in Delaware.

Coconuts Peyton Chatagnier (No. 1) fields the throw down to second on Sal Jacobo’s (No. 2) shoulders during warmups.

Tailgater outfielder Travis Moniot (No. 16) bumps the ball into the air to intiate a trick play out between him and Jordan Hussein (No. 5).

Hussein completes the trick play out, catching the ball in his cowboy hat.

Catcher Ashby Vining (No. 11) looks into the Loco Beach dugout ready to celebrate after driving in a walk-off run in the bottom of the first inning. Banana Ball rules require teams to win the inning to earn a point. The team with the most runs in an inning wins the inning and the point.

(To read more about the Banana Ball experience click here.)

Coconut players Grady Morgan (No. 31) and Dane Tofteland (No. 23) recreate the scene from “Titanic” after Tofteland as hit by a pitch.

Coconut outfielder Gideon Antle (No. 18) just barely gets a hand in before the tag from Tailgater catcher Taj Porter (No. 26) winning the fourth inning for the Coconuts. They led, 2-1, through four innings.

A pair of dualing fathers pick up their youngest children on first base as they race around the diamond to collect there children before reaching home during the fourth inning. The two dad’s hilariously “forgot” their middle child on second base.

Both teams broke out into an impromptu water balloon fight during Nick Lopez’s (Tailgaters’ No. 9) at-bat. Lopez was not allowed to step out of the box because a rule of Banana Ball requires the hitter to stay in the box no matter what. If the batter steps out of the box the batter is out.

Tailgater Kyle Martin (No. 27) gets the handoff from his head coach on his way home after hitting a solo home run.

The stadium goes dark in the middle of the eighth as the teams and crowd sing along to “3 Little Birds” by Bob Marley.

Tailgater Jose Gonzalez (No. 28) celebrates after getting a hit. The Tailgaters ended up winning the game, 6-3.

All photos courtesy of Dave Reeder. To see more of Dave’s work check him out on Instagram @bfr_photo

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.