SL1 Mississippi Braves

M-Braves Drop Season Opener to Smokies

Published on April 9, 2015 under Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


PEARL, MS -- The Mississippi Braves dropped the season opener to the Tennessee Smokies 7-2 in front of an Opening Night crowd of 4,590 at Trustmark Park Thursday evening. The series continues with game two of five Friday at 7:00 PM.

Mississippi (0-1) scored two runs on seven hits and an error while Tennessee (1-0) plated seven runs on seven hits. Rio Ruiz led the M-Braves with a 2-for-4 night at the plate. He scored a run and drove in one run.

The Smokies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third. Pin-Chieh Chen walked and Albert Almora singled. Kyle Schwarber walked to load the bases before Christian Villanueva walked to bring home the game's first run. Dan Vogelbach then delivered a two-run single to left.

Ruiz doubled to start the M-Braves fourth. Seth Loman then walked and a wild pitch allowed Ruiz to advance to third. A David Rohm RBI-single up the middle allowed Ruiz to score and cut the Smokies lead to 3-1.

Tennessee extended its lead to 6-1 in the eighth when Almora led off with a walk and scored on Schwarber's triple to right field. Schwarber then came in to score on a wild pitch, making it 5-1. Stephen Bruno later tripled and scored on another wild pitch to make it 6-1.

Daniel Castro led off the bottom of the eighth with a single to third. He came around to score on a Ruiz double to center field, making it a 6-2 game.

Elliot Soto doubled and took third on a Ryan Dent fly out to right. Chen then delivered a double to right, plating Soto and extending the Smokies lead to 7-2.

Corey Black (1-0) held the M-Braves to one earned run on four hits and three walks to pick up his first win of the season. He struck out four in five innings of work. Hunter Cervenka (S, 1) worked an inning and two-thirds to pick up his first save of the season.

Jason Hursh (0-1) worked three frames for the M-Braves and suffered the loss. He gave up three runs and two earned runs on three hits, four walks and a strikeout.

In game two of this opening five-game series at Trustmark Park, M-Braves right-hander and Braves No. 12 prospect Tyrell Jenkins counters Smokies righty Ivan Pineyro. First pitch is slated for 7:00 PM. Gates open at 6:00 PM.

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Southern League Stories from April 9, 2015


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