Stars fall victim to the walk-off homer

By Aaron Morse

Devin Mesoraco took Jim Henderson deep in the bottom of the 11th as the Huntsville Stars (29-34) lost to the Carolina Mudcats (26-36) by a score of 6-5 Saturday night.

The Stars got off to a quick start thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles from Brett Lawrie, Lorenzo Cain, and Caleb Gindl in the top of the first. Mudcats’ starter Scott Carroll proceeded to plunk Zelous Wheeler and Lawrie scored to give Huntsville the 1-0 lead. Taylor Green hit into a double-play, scoring another run, but slowing down what had the potential to be a big inning; instead the Stars settled for the 2-0 edge.

The top of the order went back to work in the third. Lawrie started the inning with a double to left. Cain legged out an infield single to put runners the corners with nobody out. Gindl smacked a sacrifice fly and the Stars were up 3-0. A strike-out and a ground-out ended the inning with no further runs scoring.

Stars’ starter Mark Rogers was in complete control for the first four innings, but ran into trouble in the fifth. He struck-out the lead-off hitter. Unfortunately the ball got away from catcher Dayton Buller and the Mudcats had a man on with no outs. Dave Sappelt drilled a RBI triple to make the score 3-1. Rogers responded by getting his second K of the inning. He got the next batter to hit a routine grounder to Steffan Wilson at first; Wilson fired home in an attempt to get Sappelt at the plate. Sappelt bowled over Buller causing the ball to get jarred loose and the Mudcats pulled within one. Rogers struck-out Carroll for his third K of the inning, but only the second out. Kris Negron followed with a double that landed just out of the reach of a diving Lee Haydel to tie the game.

Huntsville responded right away as Taylor Green singled with one away in the sixth. Wilson doubled to put runners at second and third. At that point, Lee Haydel grounded to shortstop. The throw to first was low and got away, allowing not only Green but Wilson to score as well.

With Huntsville up 5-3, the bullpen could not hold onto the lead. Robert Hinton allowed an inherited runner to score when he balked home Sappelt in the sixth.

Rogers’ final line on the evening was 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, and 7 K’s. He would take a no-decision as the Mudcats rallied to tie the score in the ninth.

With Eddie Morlan on in relief, Devin Mesoraco lined a single to left. An infield single put runners at first and second with nobody down. Denis Phipps tried to bunt the runners over. His attempt was unsuccessful as Morlan threw Mesoraco out at third. It didn’t matter though as Jose Castro drilled a RBI single to tie the game at five. Morlan got out of the inning without any further damage, but the damage was done as Huntsville headed to their third extra innings game of the year.

Entering the game, Huntsville was 2-0 in extra frames, but after leaving two stranded in the top of the 11th, the Stars saw it come back to haunt them when Mesoraco crushed a Henderson offering over the left field wall.

Brett Lawrie had a big day for the Stars as he went 3-5 with two runs scored. Cain and Gindl both tallied two hits apiece.

Jeremy Horst (2-2) picked up the win in relief while Henderson (2-1) suffered the loss.

The Stars are back in action Sunday afternoon as they take on the Mudcats at 1:00pm central time, with the pre-game show beginning on the Stars Radio Network at 12:45.