Conley, Marisnick Star in 8-1 Suns Win
KODAK, Tenn. - Adam Conley threw seven terrific innings and Jake Marisnick homered for the Jacksonville Suns (15-13, 49-46), who evened their series against the Tennessee Smokies (18-10, 52-45) with an 8-1 win at Smokies Park.
Conley extended his scoreless streak to 14 and two-thirds innings before Tennessee finally broke through with a run in the sixth. The left-hander pitched seven innings for the second consecutive outing, giving up just two hits and striking out six while walking three.
The southpaw also had plenty of run support, thanks to a banner offensive night for Jacksonville. The Suns finished with 17 hits against Smokies pitching, including five for Mark Canha, who picked up the quintet of hits in six trips to the plate.
Tennessee's A.J. Morris surrendered a pair of runs to the Suns on groundouts through the first three innings before serving up three more in the fourth. Canha's single plated two runs to give Jacksonville a 4-0 lead, and one of six Smokies errors helped score another to close out the frame.
Up 5-1 into the seventh, the Suns landed the knockout punch when Jake Marisnick launched his 12th home run of the season, a three-run blast that gave Jacksonville an 8-1 lead.
Scott McGough and Grant Dayton followed with two scoreless innings of relief to close out the win for the Suns.
The win sets up a rubber match between the two teams on Monday, with the Suns seeking to earn a series victory over Tennessee in the teams' first matchup in 2013.
The Suns send right-hander Bryan Evans (2-3, 3.89) to the mound in Monday's series finale, while Tennessee seeks the series win behind right-hander Kyle Hendricks (9-3, 2.03). First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET.
Suns fans can listen to Monday's game on the Suns Baseball Network, 94.1 WSOS-FM or through jaxsuns.com, MiLB.com or the Suns iPhone or Android app, beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET with Suns Sunday on the UF Health Suns Pre-Game Show.