Smokies return to first place

The Tennessee Smokies jumped a half game in front of the Jacksonville Suns to take over first place in the Southern League’s Eastern Division after wrapping up a series at Chattanooga with a 3-2 win on Sunday. The Smokies will be on the road, at first half division winner Carolina through Thursday, before returning to Smokies Park this weekend for a series against the same Carolina team. Tennessee (15-7) has won 12 of their last 14 games with eight of the 14 games coming against the Lookouts from Chattanooga. The Smokies have taken six of eight from the Lookouts and the teams are probably a little tired of seeing each other by now. The two teams met for a four game series at Smokies Park last weekend with the series finale on Monday, turning into a war of words in the later innings. Both benches cleared twice following verbal exchanges at home plate. Chattanooga went on to win the game with a six run ninth inning to break Tennessee’s nine game winning streak that had briefly put the Smokies in sole possession of first place, a half game in front of Jacksonville. Tennessee had fallen into second place after a 1-0 loss at Chattanooga on Friday but Sunday’s win put them back on top heading into the eight game stretch against the Mudcats, their chief nemesis from the first half. Tennessee took an 11-4 decision over Chattanooga on Saturday night thanks to four errors by Lookouts pitcher Josh Hall. Hall’s four errors were the most ever by a pitcher in a Southern League game. The Smokies put together a five-run first inning on Saturday to jump out to a lead that they would not relinquish. Shawn Fagan and Matt Logan each had two-run singles in the first inning and Mike Rouse blasted a grand slam in the eighth that gave the Smokies more than enough insurance to coast home for the win. Tennessee has hit league high seven grand slams this season. In Sunday’s win, the Smokies plated all three of their runs in the fourth inning after Chattanooga’s Tom Nevers, the Southern League batting leader, connected on a solo home run in the second inning. Nevers was one of the centerpieces of the bench clearing exchange of verbal darts that had occurred on Monday at Smokies Park. Tennessee catcher Paul Chiaffredo and Nevers became involved in a disagreement over where the bat ended up when Nevers was standing in the on-deck circle. Nevers accused Chiaffredo of throwing the bat after a Chattanooga batter had just knocked in the go-ahead run in the Chattanooga win. The dugouts from both teams quickly rushed to the field and gathered around home plate as the coaches and managers from each team made an attempt to restore some kind of order. The Chattanooga third base coach accused Chiaffredo of talking trash after the players had returned to their respective dugout’s, causing players to once again rush the field. Tennessee manager Rocket Wheeler came to his catcher’s side as the Chattanooga coach was warned by the home plate umpire. No punches were thrown and no one was ejected from the game, but the Lookouts did send six runs across the plate during the deciding ninth inning and the Smokies couldn’t recover in the bottom half, giving Chattanooga their first win of the series. • Tennessee outfielder Dewayne Wise went 2-2 with an inside the park home run in helping the American League All-Stars top their National League couterparts 11-2 in the 2002 Double-A All-Star game at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, Conn. Wednesday night. Wise capped a nine-run seventh inning with an inside the park home run, the first ever at Dodd Stadium. The Chapin, SC native drew a walk in his trip to he plate before coming alive with his winning teamates. Wise singled and scored in his first at-bat during the American Leaguers rally. When his squad batted around, Wise got another shot and took full advantage. The left-hander laced a shot to the left center gap and raced around the bases as the ball made it to the track past two diving outfielders. Wise scored standing up. Tennessee pitcher Vinnie Chulk was named to the American League squad but did not make the trip due to an aggravated back injury. • Outfielder Ryan Fleming was hitting .410 through Friday night in 39 at bats. Fleming has 16-hits, eight runs and eight RBI’s. Wise has raised his average to .302 with 91 hits, 10 home runs and 47 RBI.