Knoxville spent Sunday afternoon being offered chances it could not convert. Three Birmingham errors put Smokies on the bases, but the missing piece never arrived: a hit that changed the inning, a ball into a gap, anything that made the Barons pay.
Instead, the Smokies closed their season with two hits in a 7-0 loss at Regions Field, where a game that remained within reach for six innings broke open beneath two seventh-inning home runs.
Birmingham starter Connor McCullough worked five scoreless innings without issuing a walk. The Smokies reached on errors in the first, second and fifth, yet none advanced beyond first base. Kane Kepley supplied their only hit against McCullough, recognizing an uncovered left side in the third and placing a bunt near the third-base line. He made it comfortably to first, but Knoxville could do nothing with the opening.
Kepley finished 1-for-4. Andy Garriola collected the Smokies’ other hit, a line-drive single to center in the eighth.
The lack of offense kept every Birmingham run heavy. Connor Schultz allowed the first in the second, when Samuel Zavala walked and Jacob Burke singled before Calvin Harris lined a two-out RBI single through the right side. Schultz avoided further damage and completed three innings with one earned run allowed, two strikeouts and one walk, but took the loss without any run support.
Birmingham stretched the margin in the fifth after Harris drew a leadoff walk. Alec Briley later lifted a ball into the right-center gap, where Garriola ran it down. Harris tagged from second and kept coming, beating the relay home to make it 2-0.
The Barons added another run in the sixth, leaving Knoxville down three but not yet buried. The Smokies mounted their best threat in the seventh when Alex Madera and Dom Krupinski walked against Morris Austin. Michael Gupton struck out to strand them both.
That empty inning became the dividing line.
Yenrri Rojas retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh before Dylan Campbell sent an 0-1 pitch towering toward deep left. Carter Trice retreated, but the ball carried beyond him and over the wall for Campbell’s ninth home run with Birmingham.
The inning kept moving after Colby Shelton and Ryan Burrowes lined singles to right. Zavala followed by driving a ball high and deep toward right-center, a three-run homer that completed a four-run burst and pushed the lead to 7-0.
What had been a manageable deficit was suddenly a rout. Rojas was charged with four earned runs over two innings, all of the damage arriving after he had recorded two outs in the seventh.
The Smokies did not answer. Miguel Useche walked and Garriola singled in the eighth, giving Knoxville two runners aboard via something other than an error, but Trice flew out to center. Jackson Kelley then retired the side in the ninth to finish the shutout.
McCullough earned the win with three strikeouts across his five innings. Three Birmingham relievers covered the last four, allowing one hit while combining for five strikeouts.
Zavala finished 2-for-3 with a walk, a home run and three RBIs, providing the decisive swing in Birmingham’s 11-hit afternoon. Harris reached three times with two walks and an RBI.
Luis Rujano gave Knoxville a scoreless eighth, striking out two before handling a grounder himself for the final out. By then, the game had long since escaped. The Smokies’ larger problem had settled in much earlier: opportunities appeared, but the hit required to turn them into runs never did.