Stars beat Suns in back-and-forth battle

By Aaron Morse

Drew Anderson smacked a two-RBI double to give the Stars (15-14, 48-51) the lead for good and Huntsville’s pitching staff struck-out a season-high 16 batters on their way to a 5-2 victory Saturday night over the Jacksonville Suns (16-13, 56-43).

Jacksonville got to Stars’ starter Amaury Rivas in the second inning as Matt Dominguez started things with a lead-off walk. A grounder moved him to second, and with two away Tim Torres came through with a bloop single to left, scoring Dominguez and giving the Suns a 1-0 lead.

Huntsville got some two-out lightning of their own in the top of the third. Caleb Gindl doubled to left and Zelous Wheeler followed with a double of his own to tie the game at one.

The back-and-forth two-out offense continued in the bottom of the frame. Amaury Rivas retired the first two batters he faced and struck-out Osvaldo Martinez for what should have been out number three. Unfortunately the ball got away from Anderson De La Rosa, allowing Martinez to reach safely. Martinez took advantage by stealing second base and scoring on a Vinny Rottino single.

The Suns’ 2-1 lead didn’t last long as the Stars came back in the top of the fourth. Chris Nowak led-off with a walk. That was the end of the day for Suns’ starter Jose Rosario as the Suns brought in Wade Korpi (0-3). Nowak proceeded to steal second base and advance to third on a Taylor Green ground-out. Lee Haydel smacked a sacrifice fly to knot things at two.

Korpi’s control was his undoing in the fifth as he walked Rivas and Lawrie to start the inning. It was the first time all year Rivas has reached base. Caleb Gindl bunted the runners over and Korpi walked Wheeler as well. With the bases full, Drew Anderson came up large with a double to right, scoring Rivas and Lawrie to give the Stars a 4-2 advantage.

Rivas (9-5) went five innings, giving up four hits and two runs, both earned. He walked one and struck-out six. Nick Green came in for Rivas and was dominant, tossing two scoreless innings and striking-out five hitters.

Huntsville added an insurance run in the eighth thanks to a Wheeler solo homer. Jim Henderson struck-out two on his way to a scoreless bottom half of the frame.

Robert Hinton nailed down his third save of the year and second in as many days with a 1-2-3 ninth as he struck-out the side.

With the win, the Stars pull to within 1.5 games of the Tennessee Smokies for the north division lead as Tennessee was rained out Saturday.

Huntsville looks to clinch the series victory Sunday afternoon as they’ll get started at 2:05 p.m. central time. The Stars’ starter is TBA, but he’ll be squaring off against Elih Villanueva (10-4, 2.39 ERA). Tune in beginning at 1:50 p.m. for the Window World Pre-Game Report on the Stars Radio Network.