Smokies Series Recap: Knoxville Smokies @ Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Philip Stalzer

PENSACOLA, FL — Knoxville traveled down to Pensacola this week to take on a red-hot Blue Wahoos team that had finally given themselves a firm grasp of first place in the Southern League South after a great three weeks of baseball. After Knoxville struggled in July, especially offensively, they had begun to find some rhythm in August, with a number of players having their best offensive months of the season and of their career. In this potential Southern League Championship preview, who would bring home the bacon: Knoxville, Pensacola, or Mother Nature?

Game 1: Knoxville Makes it Rain

Knoxville jumped out of the gate in incredible fashion in Tuesday’s game. In the top of the first, 12 men came to bat as the Smokies scored nine runs in that first inning, including four runs before the first out of the game was recorded. The inning was highlighted by Andy Garriola’s rainmaking three-run home run in his second at bat of the inning. Not only did his home run cap off the nine run first inning, but it also brought in the rain.

After Dawson Netz worked around a leadoff double in the bottom of the first, the rain began to come down hard on the field. Eventually, the game was called and scheduled to resume Wednesday, but more rain kept any baseball activities from happening on Wednesday. Flash forward to Thursday afternoon and the teams were finally able to play baseball again.

Play resumed with Connor Schultz on the mound for the Smokies and the Smokies kept their foot on the gas. Pensacola tried to chip away with three runs in the third inning, but Knoxville responded with five more in the fifth inning on some productive at bats and clutch two out hitting with runners in scoring position by Miguel Useche and Alex Ramirez.

Pensacola scored two more in the bottom of the fifth inning, but Knoxville responded immediately with two of their own in the top of the sixth inning to make it 16-5. The scoring would stop for both teams after that as Knoxville took game one in dominating fashion.

Game 2: Missing McCullough

Game two was played Thursday night as a seven inning game following the completion of game one. Brody McCullough, who had been great since returning to the Smokies from injury earlier this season, was on the mound for the Smokies.

McCullough looked great to start the game, facing one over the minimum through the first 2.2 innings of the game, but after his offense got him an early 1-0 lead on Karson Simas’ fifth home run of the season, McCullough began to falter.

After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the third inning, McCullough allowed a walk and three straight hits to allow Pensacola to take a 2-1 lead. Then in the fourth inning, McCullough again retired the first two batters before allowing a single, two walks, and an infield single that cleared the bases after McCullough himself threw the ball away. McCullough’s day was done after that and Tyler Schlaffer locked it down for the rest of the game.

Schlaffer only allowed one run over 2.1 innings to close out the game, but the Smokies’ offense could never get going after the Simas home run. Pensacola scored one more for good measure in the fifth inning and closed it out to win by a final of 6-1.

Game 3: Roles Reversed

One of the main stories of the Smokies throughout this season has been their ability to come back late in games despite falling behind early. On Friday, it was a bit of a different story.

The Smokies jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on an RBI single from the red-hot Ariel Armas in the first inning. They then added on with two more runs on RBI hits from Edgar Alvarez and Carter Trice to make it 3-0 Smokies, but then came the Blue Wahoos.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Pensacola notched a run to get themselves on the board. Then in the fifth inning, Pensacola exploded for four runs on RBI hits from Adrian Santana, Brandon Compton, and Ethan O’Donnell as Pensacola took the lead, 5-3.

Jackson Brockett was great in his first start for the Smokies, allowing just one run on four hits and one walk while striking out five over four innings, but Grayson Moore couldn’t lock it down behind him, allowing Pensacola to have the big inning. The Blue Wahoos added one more insurance run in the seventh inning and took game three by a final of 6-3.

Game 4: Bright Spots in a Tough Loss

Knoxville’s loss on Saturday meant that they lost the series in Pensacola, as they would only play five games after plenty of rain all week. Despite a tough loss on Saturday, the Smokies showed some great signs of life.

For starters, Kane Kepley is looking like a true leadoff man. Kepley reached base in his first at bat of the game in each of the first four games this week and is now on a 10-game on base streak after reaching in Sunday’s game as well. The streak is the longest active on base streak on the Smokies.

Kepley's abilities as a leadoff man don’t stop at getting on base, however. Kepley was able to manufacture the first run of the game after stealing second base, moving to third on a productive out by Alex Ramirez, and scoring on a wild pitch, giving Knoxville a 1-0 lead before the first hit of the game was even recorded.

On the mound, the Smokies looked strong as well. Brooks Caple looked great through the first four innings, but struggled in the fifth inning, as he finished his second time through the batting order and began his third. Pensacola’s three run fifth inning ended up being the decider.

Behind Caple, Ethan Flanagan and Vince Reilly were great, tossing three combined innings of hitless ball, including striking out five batters.

The final bright spot was Edgar Alvarez. Alvarez was already having a monstrous week, hitting .500 with three RBIs in the first three games. Then in the sixth inning, Alvarez blasted a two run home run to make it 4-3 Blue Wahoos. The Smokies could not complete the comeback, however, as they fell by a final of 4-3.

Game 5: Salvage the Finale Before Hitting the Road

Having already lost the series after losing game four, Knoxville was looking to win the series finale to avoid a four game losing streak and ensure they head to Biloxi with at least a little bit of momentum. Manager Lance Rymel made a late decision to have Netz start game five after only throwing one inning in Tuesday’s start due to the massive rain delay, but it didn’t exactly work out for Netz and the Smokies.

Netz struggled early, allowing the Blue Wahoos to take an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a two run home run by Ethan O’Donnell, and then add insurance on an RBI groundout in the third inning. Netz never got that deep into the game, needing 60 pitches to record nine outs as he was pulled after the third inning.

Knoxville’s offense tried to chip away, scoring one run in the fourth inning on yet another Useche home run and one in the sixth inning on an RBI groundout from Garriola to make it 3-2 Pensacola. Compton’s solo shot in the bottom of the sixth inning increased Pensacola’s lead back to two and Knoxville again tried to chip away with one more run in the seventh inning. Unfortunately, it was too little too late, as Knoxville dropped the series finale by a final of 4-3.

Wrap Up

Knoxville came out of the gates HOT in Pensacola, seemingly ready to put out the red-hot Blue Wahoos and make a statement before the playoffs. Unfortunately, the rain came and seemed to put out Knoxville’s spark, as they struggled to find that same fire on offense the rest of the week. While players like Alex Madera and Kepley stayed hot, and Alvarez seemed to find more of a groove in the box, the Smokies ultimately dropped the series, including losing their last four games.

The Smokies will stay down by the Gulf as they head to Biloxi to take on a still terribly struggling Shuckers team as the Smokies attempt to get back on the right track as playoffs draw closer.

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