De Avila Shines in M-Braves 1-0 Loss to Smokies

PEARL, MS – Despite strong pitching, the Mississippi Braves (57-71, 24-36) fell 1-0 to the Tennessee Smokies (69-59, 33-27) on Thursday night at Trustmark Park.

The Smokies snapped an eight-game losing streak, winning with just one infield hit. The M-Braves lost a three-game win streak.

Luis De Avila dominated for the second start in a row. The 22-year-old struck out a career-high 11 batters in six innings of one-hit ball. In his last two starts, the left-hander has 14 shutout innings, five hits allowed and 17 strikeouts.

The Tennessee pitching staff held the M-Braves to three hits and three walks.

The M-Braves had a pair of hard-hit balls that were caught in the outfield. In the fourth, Jesse Franklin V sent a towering fly ball to center field. The fly ball pushed the centerfielder Bradlee Beesley back to the wall, but he made the catch with his back up against the wall. Cal Conley ripped a 105-mile-per-hour line drive to center in the eighth, but Beesley made a nice read and tracked the ball down near the wall. Drake Baldwin stroked a 106-mile-per-hour line drive that was caught in center field in the ninth.

With no score in the eighth inning, three walks and an error scored a run. Nelson Maldonado drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the only run of the game.

The fourth game of the series is on Friday night at Trustmark Park. LHP Domingo Robles (8-7, 3.62) will make the start Mississippi while RHP Kohl Franklin (4-10, 5.95) will start for Tennessee. The first pitch is at 6:35 pm CT, with coverage starting 15 minutes before on 102.1 The Box, MiLB First Pitch App, and Bally Live.