Birmingham Drops Fourth Consecutive Game to Tennessee

The Birmingham Barons started off the series with a strong showing in a 9-8 victory over the Tennessee Smokies in Game 1. Since then, the Barons have dropped four straight with the most recent coming in a 5-3 loss to the Smokies.

In the Saturday loss, Birmingham from the plate was led by Alsander Womack and from the mound by RHP Jeremiah Burke.

The Barons kicked off their scoring in the third inning on an RBI single off the bat of Ben Norman. That was Norman’s sole RBI of the night but was not the only score in the inning for Birmingham. The Barons also collected their second and final run of the inning from a sacrifice fly off the bat of Womack.

Birmingham collected two runs for themselves but that only put them ahead by one score as the Smokies had snagged a run in the bottom of the first. Tennessee would snatch the lead back with two two-run frames in the fourth and the sixth. The Smokies took control of the game and did not look back as the Barons did not have a response until the top of the eighth.

Before the Barons scored their final run, Burke took the mound to shut down Tennessee’s offense. The right-hander finished his 2.0 innings pitched allowing zero hits on one walk and five strikeouts. Burke was one of five pitchers used in the contest but was by far the most efficient in his respective innings.

Birmingham in the top of the eighth inning would threaten the Smokies, however, could only convert one run with the bases loaded. The run came from Womack, who used his patience on a five-pitch walk. The Barons couldn’t muster anything else in the ballgame from the offensive side of the ball.

Birmingham dropped Game 5 and put themselves in a 4-1 hole with one game left in the series. The Barons turn their attention to Game 6 as LHP Tommy Sommer takes the mound to try and end the series on a win.