Cross Division Showdown: Can Knoxville Knock Off Columbus

Cooper Smith

COLUMBUS, GA - The Knoxville Smokies pack the buses for only the third time this season as they look to continue their recent stretch of scorching-hot baseball. The Columbus Clingstones await Knoxville for the Smokies’ second cross-division series of the year. Columbus enters the week in second place in the South Division at 16-16, just a half-game behind Montgomery, while Knoxville (18-15), even after an explosive weekend, trails Chattanooga by three games in the North. With both clubs sitting in second place in their respective divisions, this series could bring some important mid-May movement in the standings.

This is the first meeting of the year between Knoxville and Columbus, and first time seeing each other since the Smokies took the series in Columbus last June. The 2025 Smokies dropped the first two games of the series on June 10th and 11th, and responded with four straight wins to clinch the six game set on the road. Shifting back to 2026, it has not been pretty for Columbus at home as they've posted a 5-10 record at Synovus Park while Knoxville holds a .500 clip on the road.

First pitch for the series is set for 7:06 p.m. ET on Tuesday night.

The Smokies staff has seen its positives and negatives to begin the season. Just two series ago, before Knoxville visited Rocket City, the Smokies had the worst starter ERA in all of Double-A baseball entering that series with an 8.26 ERA. Knoxville has a whole lot of stock in these starters, and are starting to see some green in the market. The starting staff combined for an absurd line of 26.2 IP only one earned run and tallying 35 strikeouts in those innings this past weekend. That line is good for a 0.34 ERA on the series and a 11.8 K/9, just absurd numbers, and that is how they took five of six in a series.

Knoxville as we know, can also do it in the box and on the bases. The Smokies own a 84.9% stolen base rate, swiping 45 of 53 attempts on the year. Karson Simas leads the way with 14 on the year and ranks tied for third in the Southern League overall. This team takes extra bases and capitalizes on mistakes. Knoxville currently ranks second in the league in walks, and has struck out the third least… only trailing Biloxi by three.

However, that is something this Columbus team does better than anyone in the Southern League, they do not strike out, they put the ball in play and oh my they can hit. The Clingstones offense ranks first in slugging percentage (.454), OPS (.791), and homeruns (52). Columbus is exiting a five game series win scoring 6 runs or more in every single game against Biloxi. With the way the Knoxville offense and Columbus offense have been to begin the year, we could see some firepower in this series.

Players to Watch

Another week and another conversation about Owen Ayers. Ayers continues to outshine at the dish going 5-for-15 with three extra base hits, with two of those being home runs, and also driving in six runs on the weekend earning him Southern League Player of the Week. The 10th ranked prospect in the system has held his own since the call up posting a .231/.369/.519 slash line in his 16 games with Knoxville. Ayers ranks 2nd on the team in home runs with four behind Andy Garriola who has seven with six more games played. The power surge continued for Ayers in the 2026 season; he has now left the park 10 total times in his 27 games played in both South Bend and Knoxville. Ayers made his debut on April 21st batting in the 3-hole and maintained a similar spot in the lineup now posing as the cleanup man in his most recent start.

Toeing the rubber for Knoxville in his Double-A debut this past Friday was Brooks Caple. Caple received the call on May 5th, four days before his first start in a Smokies uniform and it was well earned. In five starts with South Bend this year, Caple posted a 2.49 ERA going 3-1, and striking out 26 over 21.1 IP. His excellence on the bump earned him Midwest League Pitcher of the Month this past April. On Friday against Birmingham, Caple displayed his electric arsenal displaying a five pitch mix and striking out six of the eleven outs he recorded. Caple’s heater touched 98 earlier this year in South Bend and it was on full display on Friday. His final line against Birmingham was 3.2ip, 2H, 2BB, 0R, 6K on 78 pitches. Caple is projected to throw this Friday against Birmingham in Game 4 of the series.

For the Clingstones it is the left side of the infield that you must pay attention to entering this six game stretch if you are Knoxville. David McCabe and Cal Conley have mashed in the last 15 days combining for 7 homers and 15 RBI. McCabe’s OPS in that stretch is 1.125, and Conley's resting a tick higher at 1.357. For the season, McCabe and Conley have a lot to do with the Clingstones’ offensive success as well. Cal holds the highest OPS (1.130) and slugging percentage (.677), followed by none other than David who ranks second in both categories as well, OPS (.995) SLG (.632). These two can rake and post a real threat early and in the middle of a Columbus lineup, who as we know, can hit with anyone in this league.

Probable Pitching Matchups

5/12 Tuesday, 7:06 PM ET

RHP Yenrri Rojas vs. RHP Ian Mejia

5/13 Wednesday, 7:06 PM ET

RHP Grant Kipp vs. RHP Jack Dashwood

5/14 Thursday, 7:06 PM ET

RHP Dawson Netz vs. RHP Shay Schanaman

5/15 Friday, 7:06 PM ET

RHP Brooks Caple vs. TBD

5/16 Saturday, 6:05 PM ET

RHP Tyler Schlaffler vs. RHP Garrett Baumann

5/17 Sunday, 1:05 PM ET

RHP Nick Dean vs. RHP Ian Mejia

Both squads sit in second place in their respective divisions, and both teams are looking for back to back series wins to continue their momentum into the back half of the month. It seems like the matchup to watch will be the progressive Smokie’s starters against the colossal Columbus bats. We can always expect late inning drama when Knoxville plays baseball, and with the Clingstones back home where they have struggled, hopefully we can expect some Smokie’s success. A cross division showdown 250 miles apart, let the series begin!

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