** Tennessee 2, Carolina 1 **

Sevierville, TN --- Russ Canzler hit a solo homer in the seventh inning to snap a 1-1 tie and lift the Tennessee Smokies to a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Mudcats on Thursday night at Smokies Park.

Canzler, who tied Tuesday's game with a seventh inning homer, drilled the first pitch from Scott Carroll (L, 1-3) for a two-out homer. Ryan Buchter and David Cales (S, 10) worked scoreless innings to nail down the victory, which dropped Carolina to 0-3 to start the second half.

The Mudcats, who lost their fifth straight game, had their best opportunity in the first inning, filling the bases with no outs on singles from Dave Sappelt, Kris Negron and a walk to Sean Henry. However, Smokies starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx fanned Mike Costanzo, induced a grounder to short from Eric Eymann to score Sappelt, then retired Denis Phipps on a popout.

Carroll, meanwhile, tossed his first professional complete game, allowing only the Canzler homer, and a Nate Samson home run in the third.

Smokies reliever Jake Muyco (W, 2-2) earned the win with two scoreless innings.

The Mudcats received a leadoff walk in the eighth and ninth, but could not get the clutch hit to tie the game.

Tom Cochran starts the series' fourth game on Friday night at 7:15 PM ET.