Down on the Farm: Smokies, Cougars, Daytona pick up wins

The Tennessee Smokies continued their series against the Huntsville Stars today in hopes of improving to 11-13 on the year. Huntsville squeezed by with a 4-3 win over the Smokies during extra innings last night.

Now the Stars were able to jump on the board during the top of the first inning courtesy of a sacrifice fly by Mitch Haniger to make it 1-0. The Smokies tie up the game with two a piece during the bottom of the second inning before taking the lead late in the game. First baseman Dustin Geiger went 1-3 during today’s game with his only RBI of the night coming during the bottom of the seventh.

Starting pitcher Pierce Johnson took the mound for Tennessee today as he was pulled after four innings. Pierce was charged with an earned run, but had trouble finding the strike zone was he managed to walk eight batters on the night. He only recorded one strikeout. Hunter Cervenka replaced him on the mound and worked through three shut out innings with a strikeout under his belt.

One run would be all Tennessee would need to pick up the victory on Sunday.

Winning pitcher is Hunter Cervenka (2-0, 1.59 ERA), losing pitcher is Taylor Jungmann (1-3, 4.23 ERA) with the save being awarded to Armando Rivero (4).

Final Score: Smokies 2, Stars 1.

Tennessee improves to 11-13 on the season.

We’ll switch things up with a game that had plenty of hits and runs by the good guys tonight as the Kane County Cougars took on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers yet again.

Kane County was able to put up a huge four spot during the bottom of the fourth inning after the game was tied at one a piece through three. Danny Lockhart would begin the scoring on a single to left field which made it 2-1. Jacob Hannemann would take the first pitch of the two out at-bat to right field to make it 4-1.

Hannemann finished the game 5-3 with three hits and four RBI’s, meanwhile catcher Will Remillard went 3-4 with three RBI’s of his own. Remillard continued to plate runs for the Cougars as he has 15 on the young season. He’s currently second on the team when it comes to RBI’s, current leader is outfielder Yasiel Balaguert with 18.

Starting pitcher Jen-Ho Tseng made it through five complete innings, allowing only one hit and a single earned run. Tseng issued four walks during today’s outing but managed to strike out seven before he was replaced.

Remillard launched his first home run of the season during the bottom of the sixth, then padded the lead with a two run double to left field the very next inning to make it 10-2.

Winning pitcher today is Jen-Ho Tseng (2-0, 2.66), losing pitcher is Barrett Astin (3-2, 3.62 ERA).

Final Score: Cougars 10, Timber Rattlers 2.

Kane County Cougars jump to 17-6 on the year.

Since the Iowa Cubs were postponed, the Daytona Cubs would be the final Minor League affiliate to take the field tonight.

Today’s outing for the Daytona Cubs didn’t feature a whole lot of hits or runs, but the pitching on both sides was outstanding. I know a lot of people are huge fans of games that see high scores, but I love it when pitchers on both teams can keep games close. It doesn’t matter if it’s a one or two run game, the closer the game, the more exciting it is.

This is exactly what fans received today. Starting pitcher Tayler Scott would take the mound today and work through six solid innings. He allowed four hits, walked three but was only charged with one earned run while striking out four. The only run he surrendered came during the top of the fifth inning after the Daytona Cubs gave him a 1-0 lead during bottom of the previous frame.

Jaimer Candelario would be the man to give his starting pitcher the lead on a single to center field.

Michael Jensen was the man who would come in and finish off the final three innings of the ball-game. Jensen would work through those innings without giving up a run, allowing the Manatees to pick up two hits while striking out four.

He would pick up the win after Willson Contreras helped the Daytona Cubs pick up a walk-off win on a single to center field during the bottom of the ninth.

Winning pitcher tonight is Michael Jensen (1-0, 3.97 ERA), losing pitcher is Tommy Toledo (0-2, 1.00 ERA).

Final Score: Cubs 2, Manatees 1.

Daytona Cubs improve to 9-14 on the season.