DURHAM, NC – The Charlotte Knights opened up their six-game road trip on Tuesday night with an impressive 6-1 victory over the Durham Bulls. Charlotte received an excellent starting pitching performance from Hagen Smith, a balanced bullpen effort, and plenty of offense on their way to win number 30 on the season.
Smith pitched 4.1 innings and struck out a season-high nine batters. The Knights lefty was dominant to a tune of only two hits and one run allowed.
After Smith departed, Zach Franklin, Peyton Pallette, Garrett Schoenle, and Ben Peoples kept the Bulls from scoring the rest of the way.
Charlotte’s offense was quiet the first time through the batting order; however, it was a different story the second time around. The Knights received three straight RBI doubles in the top of the fourth inning by Dustin Harris, Dru Baker, and Caden Connor.
Harris and Connor each added an RBI in Charlotte’s two-run eighth while Braden Montgomery put the finishing touches on the win with a sacrifice fly in the ninth. Montgomery finished 2-for-4 and Michael Turner tallied a game-high three hits.
The Knights are now 4-0 on the season against the Bulls but plenty of head-to-head matchups between the two teams remain. The next contest is set for Wednesday evening at 6:45pm ET.