Big Hit Evades Barons As Smokies Even Series

In a game littered with scoring opportunities, the Barons failed to take advantage leaving 13 runners on base and going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position in a 10-7 loss to the Tennessee Smokies in front of 1,690 fans at Smokies Park Sunday afternoon.

The Barons jumped on Smokies' starter Eduardo Figueroa immediately in the first inning on a leadoff double by Micah Johnson. Johnson would advance to third on a fly out by Cody Puckett and score on a base hit by Trayce Thompson. The RBI was Thompson's 6th of the series.

They would keep the pressure on in the third, getting a one-out walk to Johnson and a base hit by Puckett to bring Thompson back to the plate. With Thompson batting, Johnson and Puckett executed a double steal while Taylor's throw got away from second baseman Alcantara allowing Johnson to score from third. Back-to-back walks to Thomson and Dan Black loaded the bases and forced the Smokies to remove Figueroa from the game in favor of A.J. Morris (1-0, 2.45). However, they were unable to take advantage of the opportunity as Morris struck out Michael Earley and Tyler Saladino to end the inning with the Barons leading just 2-0.

After cruising through the first 2.0 innings, Scott Snodgress (0-1, 12.00) ran into trouble in the third, giving up a two-run single to Arismendy Alcantara to tie the game at 2-2.

The Smokies would take their first lead of the game with three runs in the fourth, getting an RBI single by Jonathan Mota and a two-run double by Matt Szczur to take a 5-2 advantage and knocking Snodgress from the game. Four of the runs scored by the Smokies were charged to Snodgress who allowed four hits and struck out three over 3.0 IP.

However, the Barons were undeterred getting single runs in the fifth and sixth innings on an RBI groundout by Tyler Saladino and scoring the second run on a sacrifice bunt by Johnson that Yeiper Castillo threw wildly attempting to force out Mike Blanke at third base.

Tennessee reclaimed their three-run cushion with two runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-run double by catcher Taylor Davis, making it 7-4 Smokies. The lead would grow to 10-4 in the eighth after a two-triple by Jonathan Mota and a sacrifice fly by Szczur.

Jared Mitchell swatted a two-run home run as part of a three-run ninth but it wasn't enough as the Barons fell by a final score of 10-7.

With the loss, the Smokies evened the series at two games apiece, forcing a decisive fifth game Monday night. RHP Myles Jaye will take the mound for the Barons while the Smokies counter with RHP Neil Ramirez. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 PM CDT.