Smokies bounce back, blast Stars

A day after being no-hit, Tennessee bounced back with four homers to rally past visiting Huntsville, 11-6, in Game 3 of the Southern League North Division Finals on Saturday.

Eric Patterson went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs for the Smokies, who grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 series. The 24-year-old center fielder lifted a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and drilled a three-run shot in the eighth. He had a pair of four-RBI games with Triple-A Iowa during the regular season.

Patterson also sparked the decisive rally in the seventh. With Tennessee trailing, 5-4, he reached on a bunt single and scored on Casey McGehee's two-run shot. Kyle Reynolds smacked a two-out double and Issmael Salas followed with a two-run blast over the left-field wall.

Salas also tripled ahead of Gary Cates' two-run homer in the sixth.

Matt Avery (1-0) gave up a hit and struck out one in a scoreless seventh for the win. Smokies starter Jeff Samardzija yielded five runs -- two earned -- on nine hits while fanning two over six frames.

Alcides Escobar clubbed a solo homer in the first and lifted a sacrifice fly to spark a three-run third for the Stars, who completed the third no-hitter in league playoff history on Friday.

Hernan Iribarren stroked an RBI double and scored on Adam Heether's triple in the third. Steven Sollman delivered a run-scoring base hit in the fourth.

Huntsville reliever Jeff Housman (0-1) suffered the loss, surrendering three runs on three hits in the seventh. Starter Derek Miller allowed two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts over five innings.