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Tennessee Smokies

Smokies Take First Series with 7-3 Win

April 11, 2010 - Southern League (SL1)
Tennessee Smokies News Release


PEARL, Miss. - While most of the contest was a back-and-forth affair, the Tennessee Smokies put late runs on the scoreboard to pull away from the Mississippi Braves to take the opening series of the season with a 7-3 win on Saturday night at Trustmark Park.

The win gives manager Bill Dancy's team a 3-0 mark in Southern League play and the team is tied for first place with the Carolina Mudcats.

The Smokies wasted no time in building a lead. After Brandon Guyer led off the game with a triple, Starlin Castro ripped a single to center field to give Tennessee an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first. The Braves answered in the bottom of the frame on an RBI double for Eric Duncan to tie the game.

The Smokies retook the lead in the top of the third on a Ty Wright RBI single to score Starlin Castro and give Tennessee a 2-1 advantage. However once again the Braves would counter with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning. Willie Cabrera hit a solo homer off Tennessee starter Austin Bibens-Dirkxs to tie the game at 2.

In his Southern League debut, Bibens-Dirkxs pitched five innings allowing two runs on six hits and he struck out six batters.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the sixth. Going against Smokies reliever David Cales, Luis Bolivar hit an RBI single to left field to score Mauro Gomez to give Mississippi their first lead of the season at 3-2.

Tennessee answered in the next inning, as Wright hit the first homer of the season for Tennessee, a two-run shot that gave the Smokies the lead back 4-3.

The Braves made it interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Mississippi had two men on base with one out when manager Bill Dancy brought in Marcos Mateo from the bullpen. Mateo struck out Orlando Mercado then forced Bolivar to fly out to right field to end the inning.

Tennessee added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to take a 7-3 lead. Mateo pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the save.

The clubs will play the fourth game of the series on Sunday afternoon at Trustmark Park. Hung-Wen Chen gets the start for Tennessee, and he will be opposed by Mississippi's Erik Cordier, with a 3:05 ET first pitch.

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Southern League Stories from April 11, 2010


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