This article first appeared in CrescentCitySports.com on March 12, 2026

When the Savanah Bananas suit up in their dazzling yellow uniforms against the Party Animals for Saturday night’s game in Caesars Superdome, it will be the first time a baseball game will be played in the domed stadium in 22 years. The last game occurred on April 27, 2004, when Tulane faced off against LSU for their third annual showcase in the Superdome.

Sell-out crowds are expected for the two games on Saturday and Sunday against the Party Animals. The younger generations of Bananas fans that will be in attendance are not likely to be aware baseball was once played in the Superdome, which hosted its first ballgame in 1976.

The Bananas’ fast-paced, entertaining games have taken the country by storm. The Superdome is one of 75 stadiums, across 45 states, in which “Banana Ball” will be played in 2026.

The 2004 game was billed as an attempt to reclaim the record for the largest attendance of a regular-season college game. LSU and Tulane had set a then-record attendance of 27,678 in 2002. But it was eclipsed on March 11, 2004, in a game at San Diego’s Petco Park between San Diego State University and the University of Houston. That game established a new record with 40,106 fans.

But the Superdome contest fell significantly shy of the Petco Park record, drawing a crowd of 21,343.

LSU banged out 15 hits to defeat the 13th ranked Green Wave. The Tigers’ Lane Mestepey and Green Wave’s Billy Mohl were tapped with the starting pitching assignments.

LSU held a 9-3 lead into the sixth inning and prevented Green Wave opportunities for a comeback in the sixth and eighth innings to hang on to a 9-5 victory.

Mestepey, who pitched into the eighth inning, claimed his fifth victory of the season, while Mohl went four innings in a no-decision. Home runs by the Tigers’ J. C. Holt and the Green Wave’s Joe Holland were offensive highlights.

When the plans for the Superdome were originally conceived, it was expected to become the home of a major-league team. But after years of disappointment from failing to attract a franchise, the idea was eventually dropped in the late 1980s. The stadium was the home field of the Triple-A New Orleans Pelicans for the 1977 season. It also played host to numerous major-league exhibition games and college tournaments during 1980-2000.