The Tennessee Smokies may have put seven runs on the board in their victory over the Montgomery Biscuits on Monday night, but it was the pitching performances that stole the show in a 7-2 final.

It all started with five nearly perfect innings from the starter, Trevor Clifton. In those five innings, the East Tennessee native allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk to go alongside a hit batter on a curveball that had just a bit too much action on it. He gave up zero runs while working a his running fastball on each side of the plate very well. He was able to mix his fastball with his big, slow hook that kept batters off balance all night.

Clifton was relieved by two strong innings by a Spring Training non-roster invitee, Craig Brooks. The 25-year-old worked quickly and threw up nothing but zeros besides a leadoff walk in the 7th that was eventually erased on a quick 4-6-3 double play.

The only snag in pitching came from Tommy Nance in his 8th inning of work. He could not seem to find the zone as he walked two Biscuits and gave up a single on his way to allowing two runs in just 2/3 of an inning.

Dakota Mekkes came in to work out of trouble, but not before watching Nance’s second earned run cross the plate on a wild pitch on his first pitch of the game. He finished off the game very strong though, notching a strikeout before finishing the game with a pair of flyouts.

It was not all about the arms, as some timely hitting led to seven runs on the scoreboard. There were some solid performances, especially from the top of the lineup. Zack Short had just 1 hit, but it was a 2-RBI single on a line drive up the middle. He added a walk (of course) in his 5 plate appearances.

Charcer Burks was found on base more than any other Smokie (Smoky? Smokey?) on the night, reaching by way of 2 base hits and a walk. He tallied an RBI to boot. Trey Martin batted out of the 9-hole in this one and had just one official at-bat, walking twice and driving in a run on a bases loaded sacrifice fly.

The Smokies continue their series against Montgomery Tuesday night with Duncan Robinson taking the bump.