PEARL — The Mississippi Braves closed out their home schedule Tuesday night, but are closing in on a return to Trustmark Park in a couple of weeks.

Cedric Hunter tripled in two runs and Erik Castro had a two-run single during a five-run first inning that propelled the M-Braves to a 6-1 win over Birmingham in their final regular-season home game.

Mitch Atkins allowed one run and one walk, and struck out four in seven innings for the M-Braves. The win was Mississippi’s eighth in a row, and 24th in 32 games overall. The M-Braves (41-24) lead the Southern League South Division by one game over Jacksonville (40-25) with five to play. First-half champion Mobile is three games back.

The M-Braves are off today, then finish the regular season with a five-game series at Huntsville beginning Thursday ay 6:30 p.m.