Stars fall to Suns in rain-shortened affair

By Aaron Morse

The Huntsville Stars (2-4, 35-41) were shutout for the second time in their six game series with the Jacksonville Suns (4-2, 44-32) as they dropped the finale by a score of 6-0 in five plus innings Sunday afternoon.

The Stars threatened in the first against Suns’ starter Elih Villanueva as Brett Lawrie and Caleb Gindl both singled. But Zelous Wheeler lined into a double play to end the threat.

Huntsville would manage only two more hits the remainder of the game as Villanueva (7-4) tossed a “complete game” going 5.1 innings until the rains came, giving up no runs, walking one and striking-out two.

The Suns scored one in the first, two in the third, and three in the fifth against Stars’ starter Michael Bowman.

Greg Burns started the first with a single to center. He advanced to second on a ground-out and moved to third on a wild pitch. Brandon Tripp hit a grounder to first base that drove home Burns as the Suns took the 1-0 lead.

The third inning didn’t go well for the Stars as Burns got things going again, this time with a lead-off walk. Osvaldo Martinez doubled him home to make the score 2-0. One out later Vinny Rottino doubled Martinez in as the Suns extended their edge to 3-0.

Rottino would help add some insurance when he singled to right with one away in the fifth. Jason Delaney doubled Rottino across the plate and Matt Dominguez singled to left; Delaney was able to score when Lee Haydel bobbled the ball for his first error of the year. Dominguez advanced to second on the play and scored after Bowman uncorked back-to-back wild pitches.

The 6-0 lead was more than enough even though the Stars put two runners on base with only one away in the sixth. The skies opened up and the game was called due to rain.

Huntsville has a day off Monday before they return to “The Joe” to host the Chattanooga Lookouts on Tuesday. First pitch is at 7pm central time and all the action can be heard on the Huntsville Stars Radio Network beginning at 6:45 with the Window World Pre-Game Report.