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SL1 Knoxville Smokies

Smokies chop down Braves 2-1

July 2, 2007 - Southern League (SL1)
Knoxville Smokies News Release


Sevierville, TN - Tennessee Smokies starting pitcher Mark Holliman continued his strong pitching, and Jake Fox delivered the game winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning to power the Smokies to a 2-1 win over the Mississippi Braves. The festive crowd of 3,907, adorned mostly in Hawaiian shirts for Buffet Night, came to their feet as the Smokies improved to 8-6 in the 2nd half of the season.

In what proved to be a classic pitchers duel, Holliman went seven innings scattering nine hits and allowing only one run to score. Brad Nelson for the Braves was equally as effective, going seven innings while giving up one run on four hits. Jerry Blevens (2-2) came on for three innings of hitless relief to pick up the win. Zach Schreiber (3-3) suffered the loss for Mississippi.

For the second straight game, the Mississippi Braves grabbed the early lead on the Smokies. The Braves got on the board in the top of the 4th inning, thanks to a double by Mark Jurich that scored Matt Esquivel to give Mississippi a 1-0 lead. Jurich has been red hot as of late, driving in three runs last night along with one today.

The Smokies, for the second straight night as well, scored a run of their own in the bottom half of the fourth to get back in the game. Casey McGehee crushed a one-out double down the right field line to get into scoring position. After Jorge Cortes flied out, Issmael Salas continued his hot hitting this series with a single up the middle to score McGehee and tie the game at one. Salas was thrown out trying to leg out a double however, ending the inning.

The game would stay in a 1-1 tie through nine innings, until the Smokies struck the decisive blow in the tenth. Salas led off the inning with a single to left field off of Schreiber to get things started. After Fox came in to pinch hit for Blevins, Salas advanced to third base on a bad pick off attempted throw from Schreiber. With the outfield in, Fox belted a high fly ball to left field over the head of Brandon Jones to seal

the win for the Smokies. The entire team mobbed Fox behind the mound to celebrate the victory, as the Smokies inched closer to first place in the North Division with the win.

The Smokies continue their series with the Mississippi Braves on Monday night 7:15 pm pm. Tennessee will send left-hander Donnie Veal (4-5, 5.64) to the mound to face left-handed pitcher Kelvin Villa (5-5, 5.29).

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