Hunstville Stars Win Late In Jacksonville

Connor Shreve

The Stars battled through a low scoring affair Thursday to beat the South Division Jacksonville Suns by one run at the Baseball Grounds in Jacksonville, FL.

After both squads matched zeros through six, Huntsville struck first. Steffan Wilson struck out to lead off the seventh but the third strike wild pitch made for a tough play on Jacksonville catcher Vinny Rotino. Rotino missed his mark on the throw to first and allowed Wilson to take second base on the error. Taylor Green moved Wilson over with a long out to center. With the infield in it briefly looked as if the Suns would barely escape the trouble when Dayton Buller grounded out to the right side for the second put out of the inning. But again luck proved more loyal to the Stars than their opponent as Suns pitcher Andrew Miller again delivered a wild pitch low which deflected off Rotino’s gear in to the air and behind him far enough to entice Wilson to take home for the first run of the game.

Jacksonville came right back by breaking up Huntsville’s no hitter and taking the lead in the bottom half. Rotino struck first, in perhaps a show of redemption, with a single to right field which touched down just in front of a charging Steffan Wilson. The next batter Mark Saccomanno turned on a pitch and produced his first hit of the contest, two RBI home run that may have seemed like a game winner at the time. After a single and walk followed, Rivas departed without having picked up an out in the inning, leaving the work to Robert Hinton. Hinton did his job efficiently, needing only nine pitches to work out of the inning.

The first two Stars batters were quickly retired in the eighth inning facing new pitcher Garrett Parcell but still managed a dramatic comeback. Lorenzo Cain singled and stole his eighteenth base of the season prior to Caleb Gindl’s RBI triple, his first of 2010. Zelous Wheeler then continued his almost robotic run production with a game winning single that brought Gindle in for the third run of the game for the Stars.

Rivas again dominated minus one inning, the seventh was the trouble inning for Huntsville’s best starter. He gave up two singles, a walk and a two run home run in the inning but received a no decision thanks to the Stars comeback. Both runs Rivas allowed were earned over six complete innings on just three hits. The Stars starter struck out six while walking four. Robert Hinton and Jim Henderson did not allow a single hit in their combined three innings out of the pen. Hinton picked up the win, his second, and Henderson managed his third save of the year.

The Stars now own a 5-3 season record over the Suns with a chance to build upon that on Friday night. Game four of the current six game series is scheduled to start at 6:05 (CDT) in Jacksonville.