Huntsville’s offense non-existent in loss to Smokies

By Aaron Morse

Smokies’ starter Chris Archer held the Huntsville Stars to a lone hit in his seven innings of dominating work as Tennessee won easily again by a score of 7-1 Tuesday night.

The Smokies got off to their trademark fast start as they scored two in the first against Stars’ starter Andre Lamontagne. With one away, Brett Jackson reached on catcher’s interference. He stole second and Russ Canzler doubled him home. With two outs, Robinson Chirinos doubled in Canzler for the second run of the frame.

Chris Nowak got the lone Stars’ hit against Archer with a solo homer in the second to cut the Smokies’ lead to 2-1.

Tennessee would add an insurance run in the fourth on a two-out RBI single from Brandon Guyer.

Lamontagne (3-1) pitched well, going five innings, scattering six hits, giving up three runs (two earned), while walking one and striking-out six.

The only problem was that Archer (7-1) was better. He went seven innings, giving up only the Nowak homer, walking one and striking-out eight.

The game was still in reach until Nick Green really struggled in relief. He gave up two runs in the sixth and seventh innings respectively.

A two-out, two RBI single off the bat of Brandon Guyer burned Green in the sixth inning. The very next inning saw Brett Jackson and Russ Canzler smack back-to-back triples to start the frame. A Blake Lalli RBI single completed the scoring.

It was another big offensive day for the Smokies as every position player in the starting lineup tallied a hit. They out-hit the Stars in the contest 12-4. No one on Huntsville tallied a multi-hit game.