Stars offense explodes as they take series finale from Smokies

By Aaron Morse

Zelous Wheeler tallied four hits and the Huntsville Stars (20-20) matched their season high for homers in a game with three as they destroyed the Tennessee Smokies (24-16) by a final score of 11-3 Wednesday afternoon.

The Smokies took the early 1-0 lead on a Matthew Spencer RBI double in the top of the first.

But the Stars offense, which has been quiet for quite a few games, exploded in the bottom half of the frame against Smokies’ starter Alberto Cabrera.

With one away, Lee Haydel, fresh off the DL, smacked a single to right. After Brett Lawrie walked, Wheeler delivered a ringing 2-RBI double to center. Chris Errecart followed that with a double of his own and the Stars had a 3-1 lead. But they weren’t done. A wild pitch moved Errecart to third and with two down Andy Machado drew a walk.

That’s when the bottom of the order came up huge. Martin Maldonado legged out a rare infield single to drive in Errecart. Then the pitcher Alex Periard helped out his own cause by singling up the middle and the Stars had a 5-1 lead.

The Periard single chased Cabrera from the game after only 2/3rds of an inning.

Tennessee used the long ball to cut the Stars’ lead to 5-3 as Russ Canzler homered in the second and Ty Wright went yard in the third.

But the Stars answered both of those in the bottom of the fourth against reliever Jeremy Papelbon. Lorenzo Cain and Zelous Wheeler both smacked solo shots to extend the advantage to 7-3.

The Stars’ third long ball of the day came in the bottom of the 6th as Brett Lawrie drilled his 2nd bomb of the year.

They would put the game out of reach later that inning on a 2-RBI single from Andy Machado to go ahead 10-3. Lawrie would continue his big day of the plate with a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to drive home Brent Brewer.

Alex Periard (2-2) tossed seven strong innings to get the win. He gave up three runs on seven hits, but shutout the Smokies for the final four frames he was in the game.

Everyone in the Stars’ lineup tallied at least one hit, while Lawrie, Errecart, and Wheeler each had multi-hit games. Those three also had multi-RBI games as the Stars scored as many runs Wednesday as they had in their previous five games combined.

With the win the Stars pull back within four games of the division-leading Smokies. They head on the road tomorrow to take on the Mississippi Braves. You can catch all the action on the Stars Radio Network and www.huntsvillestars.com beginning at 6:45pm Central Time with the Window World Pre-Game Show.