Ninth inning a black hole for Stars

By Aaron Morse

The West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (47-46, 8-16) scored six runs in the top of the ninth to stun the Huntsville Stars (46-48, 13-11) by a final score of 7-3 Sunday afternoon.

Neither starting pitcher factored in the decision as Mauricio Robles of the Diamond Jaxx left the game with an undisclosed an injury after two innings. Meanwhile the Stars’ Amaury Rivas tossed three no-hit innings before the teams had to sit through an hour-long rain delay, which meant the end of his outing.

Huntsville took the early lead thanks to a Taylor Green solo home run in the second inning. It’s Green’s second homer in as many games. They’d tack on two more in the third due to a RBI single from Zelous Wheeler and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Green. With his two RBI night, Green holds the team lead at 52.

Andre Lamontagne replaced Rivas after the rain delay and was excellent, going four innings, surrendering a lone run on two hits. He struck-out four and did not walk anyone.

Alex Liddi smacked a solo homer in the seventh to make the score 3-1, but all seemed to still be in control for the Stars.

Eddie Morlan worked a scoreless eighth, but Jim Henderson came undone in the ninth.

In an attempt to pick up his seventh save, Henderson instead handed the Diamond Jaxx the game. He walked Liddi to start the inning, and after striking-out the dangerous Carlos Peguero, walked Guillermo Quiroz as well. Scott Savastano followed with a sharp single to left, loading the bases. Back-to-back walks issued to Joe Dunigan and Johan Limonta tied the game. Then a sacrifice fly off the bat of Brandon Haveman gave West Tenn the lead.

That was it for Henderson as the Stars called upon position player Patrick Arlis to try and get the final out. He would do so but only after giving up a three-run homer to Matthew Lawson as the Diamond Jaxx put the game out of reach.

With the loss, the Stars drop into a tie with Carolina for the top spot in the SL North in the second half.