The Smoky Mountain Lions bounce back in tonight’s game for their second win of the season against the Ducks!
The game’s MVP goes to Morgan Royer (1-0), who made his debut as the evening’s Starting Pitcher. He recorded 6 strikeouts across a strong 5 innings while giving up only 3 hits and 2 runs (1 unearned). Helping his own cause, Royer went 1-2 at the plate with 2 walks.
Earning Royer the win came a roaring offense by the Lions, who recorded 9 hits and 9 runs with Zach Schmidt extending his hit streak to his fifth game, and 7 of 9 batters recording at least a hit or an RBI. Sean Reed tore up the base paths, scoring 3 runs under Schmidt as a courtesy runner. “Rookie” Tyler Ansell also had an honorable mention performance, driving in 2 RBIs with a triple and stealing a base.
The Smoky Mountain Lions will carry this momentum into next week as they take on the Space Cowboys Monday June 15th at 6pm.
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Adult baseball in Knoxville Tennessee
The rain delay comes to an end and the game tonight will officially be rescheduled…
And the Smoky Mountain Lions will take on the Ducks Wednesday evening at 6:00pm
The Smoky Mountain Lions take on the Knoxville Stix at 8:10pm MONDAY at the Ridley Helton Park!!! It’s set to be a Good Game, see you there!
Catcher Zach Schmidt contributing to the offense for the evening, keeping his hit streak alive at 4 games
The Smoky Mountain Lions take another heartbreaking loss in a classic pitcher’s dual that ended with a walk-off hit for the Royals in extra innings.
“Rookie” Tyler Ansell had a great outing on the mound across 4 innings shutting down the Royal’s offense and recorded 8 strikeouts. Reliever Quinn Toomey pitched well under pressure with the bases loaded and no outs, but did ultimately give up 1 unearned run to send the game into extra innings.
With the lead runner starting on second base going into the 8th, the Lions couldn’t string together enough offense to bring in a go-ahead run.
Skipper Andrew Hollern made his first appearance on the mound to keep the game alive under the same pressure. On the very first pitch of his outing, he gave up a walk-off hit followed by a bobble by the center fielder to allow the winning run for the Royals score uncontested by a throw to the plate.
The Smoky Mountain Lions will head into the weekend break fresh for their next game Monday night at 8:10pm against the Knoxville Stix.
For the first game under the lights this season, Michael Paljich threw 69% of his pitches for strikes as he made his first start on the mound for the Smoky Mountain Lions.
Down 2-0 going into the 4th, Quinn Toomey legged out a double scoring an RBI, and Tyler Ansell singled on the sixth pitch of the at-bat in the 5th, tying the game at two.
Ultimately, the Royals put the ball in play in the bottom half of the 5th to end Paljich’s outing (one earned), striking out nine and walking just one. After recording 5 errors in the field, the SML rotated out the defense and brought in Jeremiah Farris in relief.
Jeremiah Farris, Tyler Ansell, Zachary Schultz, and Quinn Toomey each collected one hit for Smoky Mountain Lions. Sean Reed and Joseph Young led the team with two walks each. The offense couldn’t string together enough production to get the win on the night, losing 6-3.
Although the Smoky Mountain Lions gave the Royals their first win of the season, Thursday’s game looks promising with fresh arms coming back into the starting lineup.
06/01/2026
With some light rain in the forecast and a cool 70°F, the Lions take on the Royals tonight at 8:10pm start time!
It was a Rocky start for the Smoky Mountain Lions in tonight’s game against last year’s champions, Team USA… Our pitching staff gave up 9 runs (2 unearned) with 5 walks in just the first inning.
Down 9-0 going into the bottom half of the first, the Lions chipped away “winning every inning”
after that. Tonight’s game MVP, Max Cabrera, had his debut cut short with an injury, but not before going 3 for 3 producing 2 runs with a solo home run, a triple and 3 runs batted in.
“Rookie” Tyler Ansell earned the Win on the mound after coming in to close the final out in the first inning. Ansell gave up just 1 hit and 1 earned run while striking out 7 batters across 4 and 1/3 innings.
Ansell’s hard-biting slider helped make his fastball unhittable tonight to every right handed batter he faced to keep the game within reach for the Lions offense. The bottom-half of the order carried the team across the base paths to put runners in scoring positions with hits in the clutch.
The Lions produced 11 hits total and stole 3 bases before Zach Schmidt (DH) clutched the walk-off hit to drive Andrew Hollern (EH) in from 3rd base.
The Smoky Mountain Lions bounce back to earn their first win of the season 11-10 en route to play the Royals on Monday June 1st under the lights at 8:10pm.
05/27/2026
It’s a beautiful evening for Baseball!!!
The Smoky Mountain Lions take on reigning champions from 2025 season, Team USA. It’s set to be a good game!
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