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SL1 Knoxville Smokies

Smokies sweep Lookouts with 8-6 win Friday night

July 16, 2010 - Southern League (SL1)
Knoxville Smokies News Release


KODAK, Tenn. - A pre-game power outage at Smokies Park Friday night did little to derail the Tennessee Smokies' recent success at the plate. Particularly for Josh Vitters, whose power display once the lights turned on was too much for the Chattanooga Lookouts to handle in Tennessee's 8-6 win. The 6,486 in attendance, each whom received a free ticket to a future Smokies home game for waiting out the early delay, saw Tennessee improve to 12-10 in the season's second half, 54-37 overall.

Vitters, the third overall pick in the 2007 MLB First-Year Player Draft, came out on fire at the plate Friday. Building on momentum he created with a pinch-hit home run in the Smokies 15-5 win one night earlier, he doubled home teammate Tony Campana in the first to give the Smokies an early 1-0 lead.

The California native struck again in the third, this time with a two-run home run off Lookouts starter Timothy Sexton (3-10), to pad the Smokies lead to 3-0. Blake Lalli and Brandon Guyer then followed with consecutive doubles, with Lalli scoring off Guyer's hit, to give Tennessee a 4-0 lead. Steve Clevenger would plate Guyer on a RBI-single to make it 5-0 Smokies.

Vitters kicked things off again one inning later. With the bases loaded, Vitters doubled down the left field line to bring home teammates Campana and Nate Samson and put the Smokies up 7-0. Marwin Gonzalez, on first when Vitters got his third hit of the game, attempted to score from first but was tagged out at the plate by Lookouts catcher Keyter Collado.

A bases-loaded walk by Chattanooga reliever Cole St. Clair to Campana in the fifth brought home Guyer to give the Smokies a seemingly insurmountable 8-0 lead.

Chattanooga would make a game of it though with six runs in the final four frames to close the final gap to two runs. Ryan Buchter (7-0) relieved starter Chris Carpenter and picked up the win in allowing one run total across the fifth and sixth innings. Carpenter struck out four and allowed only three hits, but his four innings thrown did not qualify him for the win.

The Smokies open a four-game series against the Montgomery Biscuits at 6:15 Smokies Park. Craig Muschko (3-3, 4.14) gets the start for the Smokies and will square off against Montgomery's Jeremy Hall (4-5, 3.35). Game tickets are available at www.smokiesbaseball.com or by calling (865) 286-2300.

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Southern League Stories from July 16, 2010


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