Philip Stalzer
KNOXVILLE, TN — It was a different kind of week in Knoxville for the Smokies this week as they hosted the Montgomery Biscuits, the first place team in the Southern League South. Rain throughout the week made it difficult to play baseball, especially as throughout the weekend, and on Thursday, Covenant Health Park played host to the Savannah Bananas and all of their adoring fans. After an exciting week of baseball in Knoxville, the Smokies remain 2.5 games behind Chattanooga for first place in the Southern League North thanks to some help from Rocket City, but here’s how the Smokies’ series against Montgomery panned out.
Game 1: Productive Outs Give Montgomery the Early Lead
Game one was a bit of a pitcher’s duel between Montgomery’s Garrett Edwards and Knoxville’s Yenrri Rojas. Edwards was dominant through 6.2 innings pitched on Tuesday, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk while striking out seven. Yenrri was also strong over five innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four.
Montgomery was able to score first on Tuesday thanks to a leadoff double by Will Simpson and some productive outs by the guys behind him. Simpson was able to get to third on a fly out to center field and then score the first run of the game on an RBI fielder’s choice as Simpson slid into home just ahead of the throw. Kenny Piper immediately gave Montgomery a 2-0 lead with a solo home run to left field before Yenrri was able to stop the bleeding in the second inning.
Montgomery scored again in the top of the third inning, again thanks to a leadoff double, this time by Tampa Bay Rays’ No. 25 prospect Austin Overn. A couple of productive groundouts moved Overn to third and allowed him to score Montgomery’s third run of the game to make it 3-0.
Both offenses remained quiet after the third inning. Yenrri and the bullpen were able to lock it down and keep the Smokies in the game while Edwards held the Smokies scoreless through almost seven full innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, Ed Howard launched a two-out double to left field after he came in for an injured Jordan Nwogu in the fifth inning. Edgar Alvarez, who has seemed to be coming into his own in recent games, especially in clutch spots, rang a double over the center fielder’s head to drive in the Smokies first run of the game and knock Edwards out of the game.
Unfortunately, Montgomery’s bullpen was also very strong. Owen Wild limited the damage in the seventh and worked a hitless eighth while Tommy McCollum was perfect in the ninth to earn the save for the Biscuits and give them a 3-1 win in game one.
Game 2: Heartbreak Late in a Back And Forth Game
After rain pushed the first pitch back by over 90 minutes, the game was finally able to begin. Knoxville wasted no time over the rain delay, scoring in the first inning. After a two-out single by Carter Trice kept the inning alive for the Smokies, Owen Ayers, the Chicago Cubs’ No. 10 prospect, launched a home run to center field to give the Smokies an early 2-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Montgomery was able to get on the board and chip away at Knoxville’s lead. After Xavier Isaac led off the inning with a walk, Smokies’ starter Grant Kipp tried to pick Isaac off. The attempt led to an error by first baseman Edgar Alvarez, allowing Isaac to move to second base. Brayden Taylor then blooped a single into left field to score Isaac from second and make it 2-1.
Knoxville responded immediately, however. In the bottom of the frame, Edgar Alvarez made up for his error in the top half of the inning by driving in Jefferson Rojas on a ground ball through the left side to make it 3-1 in favor of the Smokies.
In the top of the sixth, Montgomery again chipped away at the lead after Taylor again drove in a run, this time on a line drive to right field to bring in Simpson. Knoxville was unable to respond in the bottom of the sixth and the late game back and forth began.
In the top of the seventh, Montgomery was able to take its first lead of the game on a two-run home run by the Rays’ No. 14 prospect Jadher Areinamo to make it 4-3 in favor of the Biscuits. The lead didn’t last long, however, as Howard ripped an RBI double to left field to tie the game at four in the bottom of the seventh. Karson Simas followed Howard’s hit with an RBI extra base hit of his own, driving a triple into right field to give the lead back to Knoxville, 5-4.
In the top of the eighth, Evan Taylor allowed the Biscuits to load the bases on a couple of singles and a walk. Luis Rujano came in with two outs and the bases loaded to try to get out of the jam for Taylor. Unfortunately, Rujano allowed Mac Horvath to fist a ground ball back up the middle, diving in two runs to again give the Biscuit the lead, 6-5. The Smokies were unable to generate any offense in the eighth and the ninth and lost by a final of 6-5 in heartbreaking fashion.
Game 3: Knoxville Finally Back in the Win Column
Game three began on Friday, as the Savannah Bananas took over Covenant Health Park on Thursday as part of their 2026 tour.
Game three boasted an exciting pitching matchup as Jake Knapp, the Cubs’ eighth round draft pick in 2025 and former National and ACC Pitcher of the Year for UNC, would face off against TJ Nichols, the Rays’ No. 7 prospect.
After Knapp struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Knoxville wasted no time scoring in the bottom of the first. Alex Ramirez rang a one-out double to center field to give Ayers the RBI opportunity early. Ayers delivered, ripping a single to right field to drive in Ramirez and give Knoxville the early 1-0 lead.
Knapp allowed a couple of baserunners in the second inning, but again held Montgomery scoreless. In the bottom of the second, a couple of two-out walks gave Ramirez a chance to add on to Knoxville’s lead early. That was before the rain started coming down and forced the game into a rain delay that wouldn’t pick up until Saturday afternoon.
The game finally resumed Saturday afternoon with new pitchers and Knoxville still threatening in the second inning. Ramirez hit an infield single that loaded the bases before Montgomery’s new pitcher Chris Clark got Ayers to fly out to center to end the threat.
Brooks Caple was Knoxville’s new pitcher, and he was lights out. Over six innings, Caple allowed one run on five hits while striking out four. The only blunder on Caple’s scorecard was a solo home run he gave up to Isaac, who is tied with Blake Burke for the most home runs in the Southern League so far this season.
Knoxville’s offense was able to reclaim the lead in the eighth when Rojas, the Cubs’ No. 1 prospect, ripped an RBI single to right to give the Smokies the 2-1 lead. Marino Santy was able to lock it down in the ninth for Caple and the Smokies for his second save of the season and Knoxville earned their first win of the series 2-1.
Game 4: Early Offense Tells the Story
Saturday was supposed to host games four and five of the series, but the rainout on Friday and the continuation of game three earlier on Saturday meant that just game four would be played on Saturday.
Tyler Schlaffer and the Smokies faced off against the Rays’ No. 26 prospect, Gary Gill Hill and the Biscuits in a seven inning showdown Saturday night.
Schlaffer struggled early. In the first inning, Schlaffer hit the second batter he faced and walked the next one. Areinamo stepped up with a chance to deliver early for the Biscuits, and he did just that. Areinamo singled to right field to score one run, but an error by Ramirez in right field allowed the second run to score. Areinamo was thrown out trying to reach third base on the play, but the damage was done, Montgomery led 2-0.
The Smokies tried to respond in the bottom of the first inning. After a couple of singles and a walk loaded the bases for the Smokies with one out, Andy Garriola hit a sacrifice fly to cut the lead to 2-1. Unfortunately, the Smokies weren’t able to tack on any more after that.
Both starters settled in after the first inning. Schlaffer allowed just two runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk while striking out six. Gill Hill also went five innings, allowing just one run on seven hits and a walk while striking out six.
Pitching really took over the rest of the game as neither team was able to score again. Wild pitched two innings in relief for the Biscuits, earning the save and giving Montgomery their third win of the series by a final of 2-1.
Game 5: The Rain Game
The Smokies and the Biscuits were set to face off early Sunday afternoon and play the last game of a series that was beginning to feel very long. Dawson Netz faced off against the Rays’ No. 30 prospect, Jackson Baumeister. Netz was coming off of just his second start of the season and his best appearance so far: five hitless innings.
Netz seemed to pick up right where he left off in his last outing, striking out the side with utter dominance. Rain began to fall in the bottom of the first inning and caused the tarp to come on the field.
After about 30 minutes in a rain delay, play resumed, but there seemed to be some effects of the pause on the Smokies. The Smokies did not score in the first inning and Netz went back out to continue his start.
Areinamo greeted Netz with a leadoff double to left field. Taylor followed with a walk and Simpson lined a ball to left field to give Montgomery a 1-0 lead before Netz recorded an out in the second inning. Netz finally got the first out on a pop up to the second baseman, but a stolen base by Simpson allowed Jhon Diaz to drive in two more on a chopper over the first baseman’s head, giving Montgomery a 3-0 lead early and driving Netz out of the game.
Montgomery added on in the fourth inning. A leadoff walk set up Ryan Spikes for an RBI triple to left field to give the Biscuits a 4-0 lead. Kamren James singled two batters later to drive Spikes in and give Montgomery a 5-0 lead. After that, the skies opened up again causing another rain delay, this time much longer. Having not yet completed four innings, the game could not be considered an official game and therefore the teams waited out the storm. Play finally resumed after almost an hour.
The Smokies couldn’t get anything going on offense either after the first rain delay. In fact, after Ayers’ walk in the first inning, the Smokies did not reach base again until Alvarez collected Knoxville’s first hit of the game with a one-out single in the fifth. Ariel Armas, Chicago’s No. 19 prospect, made the most of the sign of life from the offense by driving a double off the wall in center field to bring in Knoxville’s first run of the game to make it 5-1.
Both offenses went quiet again until the bottom of the seventh inning. Three singles back-to-back-to-back gave Knoxville their second run of the game to make it 5-2. Then an RBI groundout by Armas made it 5-3 and the Smokies were right back in the game.
In the top of the eighth, Vince Reilly came in with the rain beginning to fall a little harder. Reilly, usually one of the most dominant arms out of the bullpen for the Smokies, just did not look like himself in the rainy conditions.
Reilly was able to get two groundouts in the first three batters, but then began to unravel. A hit batsman put runners on first and second with two outs. Then with the runners on the move, Isaac singled down the line in right field, allowing two more runs to score for Montgomery, making it 7-3.
Alexander Alberto came on in the bottom of the eighth for Montgomery and pitched two perfect innings with four strikeouts to close out the game and give Montgomery the 7-3 win.
Wrap Up:
It was a week full of distractions for the Smokies. With multiple rain delays throughout the week and the Savannah Bananas taking over the stadium on Thursday, Knoxville never really felt like they could get into a rhythm.
While Ramirez continued his blazing hot start to his season, Howard and Alvarez began to heat up, and most of the pitching was strong, both as starters and relievers, a couple of bad performances took the spotlight and told the tale of a losing week.
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