Wahoos Keep Rolling With 4-3 Win Over Smokies

August 23, 2026

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos squeaked one out against the Knoxville Smokies, winning 4-3 behind two home runs on Saturday night.

Jacob Kisting got the start on Saturday night, making his third career start at Double-A. Knoxville utilized some small ball off of Kisting in the top of the first, with Kane Kepley drawing a leadoff walk, stealing second, and advancing to third on a groundout to the right side. With Miguel Useche batting, Kisting spiked a breaking ball that skipped just far enough away from Connor Caskenette to allow Kepley to score from third, giving the Smokies a 1-0 lead.

Kisting, though allowing a base runner in each inning he pitched in, threw the following 3.0 innings scoreless, striking out four in the process. Pensacola knotted things up in the bottom of the fourth when, with Brandon Compton running on first, Dillon Lewis poked one down the right field line and into the corner, scoring Compton on Lewis’ fourth triple of the year.

After a scoreless fifth from Gabe Bierman (W, 5-2), the Wahoos found their power stroke. Ethan O’Donnell led off the inning by taking Smokies starter Brooks Caple (L, 4-4) deep to dead center, his third big fly of the year. Two batters later, Fenwick Trimble sent a solo shot out to left, his 15th of the season and his second since coming off the injured list last week.

But, the rally wasn’t finished. With two outs, Juan Matheus sent a double deep into left-center field and eventually came around to score thanks to a Brandon Compton single that gave the Wahoos a 4-1 lead.

After issuing a leadoff walk in the sixth, Bierman was able to retire the following two hitters. However, Edgar Alvarez tagged him for a two-run bomb to right field, bringing the Smokies to within a run of Pensacola.

After that, Holt Jones was able to lock down innings seven and eight, working around a walk and a single along the way. That left the ninth for Jack Sellinger (S, 7), who pitched a flawless 1-2-3 inning to lock down his seventh save of 2026 and secure the 4-3 win for the ‘Hoos.

Juan Matheus extended his hitting streak to 10 games, a season high for him, while Brandon Compton brought his hitting streak to 13 games, the longest streak for a Wahoo this season. The win brought Pensacola to a 68-50 record overall and a 32-17 record in the second half. The Smokies dropped to 64-54 and 26-23. Pensacola is now a season high 18 games over .500 and hold a 5.5 game lead over both the Columbus Clingstones and Montgomery Biscuits. The Blue Wahoos magic number to clinch a playoff spot now sits at 15 with 19 games to play.

The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Smokies on Sunday after noon.

written by Charlie Hobert

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT FEATURE, Sports, TOP sports