Smith Shines on the Bump, Knights Put One in the Win Column

ROCHESTER, NY – The Charlotte Knights wasted little time recovering from Wednesday evening’s loss with an impressive 7-2 bounce-back win over the Rochester Red Wings on Thursday afternoon. Charlotte received a big game offensively from Tim Elko and a sensational starting pitching performance from Shane Smith.

The Knights took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Elko delivered an RBI single in his opening at-bat. The Red Wings rallied for a run in the second inning, the lone damage Smith surrendered, and knotted the score at one apiece.

Charlotte’s offense went back to work in the top of the fourth and plated a trio of runs. Joey Wiemer ripped an RBI double off of his former team for the first tally, Mario Camilletti brought in the second run with an RBI groundout, and Caden Connor increased the lead to 4-1 with a sacrifice fly.

Elko provided some breathing room in the next stanza. The Knights designated hitter blasted a three-run homer, his second round-tripper of the series, and pushed the advantage out to 7-1.

Tyler Schweitzer and Garrett Schoenle covered the final three frames from the mound and secured the victory. Elko finished 3-for-5 and Michael Turner added a pair of base hits in the win.

Charlotte will look to take control of the series on Friday night with Game Four scheduled for 6:45pm ET.