Game Preview: 8-6 @ Jacksonville

Losers of their past four games, the Tennessee Smokies (24-19, 58-54) will try to avoid their first five-game sweep of the season against the Jacksonville Suns (27-16, 61-49). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM from Bragan Field.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: The Smokies held on to their half-game lead in the North Division because of Birmingham’s loss.  Jackson was rained out and are within 3.5 games of first.  In the South, Jacksonville has now won 11 straight games and remains in first place by 3.5 games over Mississippi.

TONIGHT’S STARTERS:

Tennessee: Eric Jokisch (8-10, 3.84 ERA): Jokisch makes his first start since coming off of the disabled list.  He has lost his last three starts including one on July 18 against Jacksonville in which he allowed three runs in five innings.  He finished the month of July with a 5.53 ERA in five starts.

Jacksonville: Andrew Heaney (1-0, 0.00 ERA): Heaney makes his second start at the Double-A level after dominating at High-A Jupiter.  In 13 games and 12 starts for the Hammerheads, Heaney tallied a 5-2 record with a 0.88 ERA.  In his first start for the Suns, Heaney tossed six scoreless innings for the victory on August 1 against Chattanooga.

LAST TIME OUT: Jacksonville homered three times in the game an early 5-1 lead before holding on 6-4 to win their 11th straight game.  Mark Canha went 3-for-4 with a home run while Derek Dietrich hit a towering home run for the game’s first run.  John Andreoli collected three hits and two RBIs in a losing effort.

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

John Andreoli: With three hits last night, Andreoli has his batting average back over .300 at .301.  He has hits in three straight games and four of five overall.

Rubi Silva: Silva went 2-for-2 last night after entering the game as a pinch-hitter.  Overall he is 5-for-14 in this series.

Mark Canha: Canha had three more hits against the Smokies last night including a solo home run in the 7th inning.  He is now hitting .500 at 16-for-32 against Tennessee pitching.

Derek Dietrich: The former Marlin hit his second home run since returning from the big leagues last night.  His home run was his first and only hit against the Smokies in this series.

KEY TO THE GAME: Walks continue to plague the Smokies in this series.  Last night, Tennessee pitching walked five batters and also hit a batter in their 6-4 loss.

TUNE IN: The broadcast will be available on our flagship station, The Sports Animal WNML AM 990 and on FM 99.1 in Knoxville beginning at 6:45 ET with the Pilot & Oscar Mayer Pregame Show. You can also listen to the broadcast in its entirety on smokiesbaseball.com as well as the Smokies mobile app.