Stars sneak past Suns in extra innings

By Aaron Morse

The Huntsville Stars (16-14, 49-51) took advantage of two Jacksonville Suns (16-14, 56-44) errors in the top half of the tenth inning to prevail 4-1 Sunday afternoon.

It was a pitcher’s duel early on as Chris Cody and Elih Villanueva were both excellent on the hill. The Stars got on the board first in the top of the fourth. Zelous Wheeler led-off the inning with a single to center. Wheeler swiped second base and with one away Chris Nowak got hit by a pitch. The Stars loaded the bases after Taylor Green drew a walk. Villanueva managed to get Lee Haydel pop out, but with Patrick Arlis at the plate, the former Florida State Seminole uncorked a wild pitch. Wheeler came hustling home and the Stars grabbed the 1-0 lead.

Meanwhile Chris Cody walked a bit of a tightrope. In the first inning the Suns got a runner to third but a sharp liner to Taylor Green allowed him to turn the unassisted double play and get Cody out of trouble.

Ryan Curry smacked a two-out double in the second but Cody struck-out Jason Delaney to end the inning.

In the third, the Suns got another man to third base and this time Lorenzo Scott hit a fly ball to center that Caleb Gindl caught and fired to plate. His throw was true and John Otness was out by a mile.

Cody hardly broke a sweat after a one-out double in the fourth went for naught for Jacksonville.

It wasn’t until the sixth inning that Cody sent the Suns down 1-2-3, and he ran into more trouble in the seventh. Back-to-back singles and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with only one away. Stars’ manager Mike Guerrero opted to call on Eddie Morlan to relieve Cody and try to get out of the inning.

Morlan would do exactly that but not before an Otness sacrifice fly tied things up at one. Cody got a no-decision but pitched well, going 6.1 innings, scattering seven hits, surrendering the lone run, walking nobody and striking out two.

The game remained tied until the fateful tenth.

Patrick Arlis legged out an infield single against reliever Kris Harvey. Stars’ pitcher Jim Henderson got down a beautiful sacrifice bunt, putting the go-ahead run into scoring position. Brett Lawrie followed with an infield single of his own and the Stars had runners at the corners with only one down. Caleb Gindl chopped a ball to first base that Vinny Rottino threw wild to home, allowing Arlis to score and giving the Stars the 2-1 lead. Huntsville showed off their trademark aggressiveness by pulling off a double steal. With runners on second and third, the poor defense continued as Zelous Wheeler hit a grounder to short that Osvaldo Martinez threw wildly to home, so wild was his throw that two runs scored on the play, extending the lead to 4-1.

Henderson tossed a scoreless bottom of the 10th to give the Stars their third consecutive victory and a much-needed series win over the Suns. The Stars managed to win the game despite only tallying six hits (no one had a multi-hit game) and zero RBI.

The Stars look to take 4 of 5 from the Suns as they play at 6:05 p.m. central time Monday night. Michael Fiers (1-0, 4.15 ERA) will take on Andrew Miller (1-5, 5.52 ERA). You can hear all the action only on www.huntsvillestars.com.