After wrapping up the North Division title last night, the Tennessee Smokies (37-26, 71-61) will play their final regular season home game of the season against the Mobile BayBears (36-28, 75-58). First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM from Smokies Park.
WHAT’S AT STAKE: Nothing! The Smokies win coupled with the Barons loss clinched them the North Division title for the second half. It’s the fifth division title in the last five years for Tennessee.
TONIGHT’S STARTERS:
Mobile: Bo Schultz (5-3, 2.69): Schultz makes his 15th start of the season for the BayBears. His first start of the year came against the Smokies on June 8 throwing three scoreless innings. He has allowed two runs or less in each of his last six starts.
Tennessee: Eric Jokisch (10-12, 3.50): Jokisch continues to be streaky and has lost his last two decisions. On August 22 in Birmingham, he allowed four runs in 7.2 innings and lost for the fourth time this season against the Barons. In his only other start against the BayBears, he took the loss on June 11 allowing three runs in 6.2 innings.
LAST TIME OUT: The Smokies locked up a North Division title in the second half with a 6-0 win. Javier Baez homered and drove in four runs and Matt Loosen tossed seven shutout innings for his second win of the season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
Garrett Weber: This series has been a struggle so far for Weber. He’s hitless in eight at bats spanning three games.
Dustin Martin: Martin is another player who hasn’t picked up a hit yet in this series. He is hitless in nine of his last ten games.
Javier Baez: Baez continued his scorching August with his 18th home run and now has 48 RBIs. He has hits in five of his last six games.
John Andreoli: Andreoli reached base three times last night including a 13-pitch walk in the 3rd inning. He hadn’t reached base in the series until last night.
KEY TO THE GAME: With nothing on the line tonight, the key for Tennessee will be how they play in the early innings. After such an emotional win last night locking up the division title, it may be tough to settle into tonight’s game.
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 7:00 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.
Andrew Green
Greg Young
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jeffaplatt
Matthew Osborne
Nick Roark
James Rowe
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