group purchased the franchise in , continuity in day-to-day operations was maintained through general manager North Johnson, and front office mainstay Shari Massengill who took over the reins in . The local government's dedication to keeping baseball in Kinston is evidenced by extensive new renovations to the ballpark. The Kinston Indians were last managed by Aaron Holbert, a former major league infielder. Their General Manager through the 2010 season, Shari Massengill, and former Assistant General Manager, Jessie Hays, made up the only all-female General Manager/Assistant General Manager team in the Minor Leagues. When Hays departed for the 2008 season, her replacement, Janell Bullock, was also female. The final GM was Benjamin Jones, who was previously employed by the Wilson Tobs. In , the Indians won the Southern Division crown for both halves of the year, but they lost in the first round of the playoffs to the wild card team, the Salem Avalanche. It was the seventh season in a row that the Indians made the post season, which is a new Carolina League record formerly held by the Burlington Bees (–). It was the second time a Kinston team had accomplished this feat. The Kinston Eagles of the Coastal Plain League also made it to seven post seasons in a row (–). Kinston's player development contract with Cleveland ended following the 2011 season. In 2012, the franchise moved to Zebulon, North Carolina and was renamed the Carolina Mudcats. On August 22, 2016, the Texas Rangers announced plans to bring a minor league team back to Kinston. The yet-to-be-named Class A-Advanced team will join the Carolina League starting in the 2017 season. Grainger Stadium The Kinston Indians, and all the Kinston teams since 1949, played their home games at Grainger Stadium located at 400 East Grainger Avenue in Kinston. The original structure was built by architect John J. Rowland in 1949 at a cost of $170,000 inclusive of everything except the land. $150,000 of the money was raised by bond issue. The stadium is owned by the city and leased by the team. A dedicatory plaque identifies the structure as "Municipal Stadium", but it has been called Grainger Stadium since it was first built. Recent ownership referred to it as "Historic Grainger Stadium" due to its age relative to other fields in the Carolina League. It was the second oldest stadium in the circuit. The name Grainger comes from its