Diamond Jaxx Lose Again

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx lost their season high seventh game in a row on Thursday night as the Tennessee Smokies scored five runs in the fifth and sixth innings to defeat the Diamond Jaxx 11-6.

West Tenn took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth inning when Tennessee took advantage of two Jaxx errors, leading to five unearned runs giving the Smokies a 5-4 lead. Tennessee scored five more runs in the sixth inning to put the game away for good.

James Russell (4-4) got the win, despite giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. Russell walked two and fanned six. Blake Lalli homered in his first Double-A game for the Smokies. Lalli finished the night 2-4 with two RBI’s. Jake Fox and Doug Deeds had two hits and two RBI’s each to help lead the Smokies attack. Matt Camp also drove in three runs on the night.

Travis Chick suffered the loss for the Diamond Jaxx, dropping his record to 2-5 on the season. Chick allowed seven runs (two earned) on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts over five innings. Jeff Dominguez had two hits and three RBI’s and Johan Limonta had two hits and two RBI’s to help lead the Diamond Jaxx attack. The Jaxx second half record falls to 6-17 with the loss, ten games behind Tennessee in the Northern Division.

Game four of the five game series takes place on Friday night at 6:15 CDT. Righty Brodie Downs (3-0 4.03) gets the start for the Diamond Jaxx. Tennessee will start righty Matt Avery (2-1 4.79).