Stars Win By One

Connor Shreve

Eddie Morlan closed a one run ballgame with the bases loaded for a 5-4 Huntsville win at Joe Davis Stadium Friday night. The game never gave the perception that it would resemble the pitchers duel of the previous night.

Michael Daniel punched a ball through Huntsville’s infield with one out in the second and was quickly caught trying to steal. Eliminating Daniel saved a run; Donell Linares knocked a single, one of four in the M-Braves half of the frame, and was brought home by the next batter when backstop Shawn McGill crushed his first homer of the year to right field to give Mississippi a two run advantage.

The visitors lead lasted less than fifteen minutes. Chris Nowak started the bottom half of the inning with a single and came around to score courtesy Taylor Green and his eighth bomb of the season. Huntsville used the fifth inning to jettison from the M-Braves.

Anderson De La Rosa and pitcher Amaury Rivas both crossed home in the fifth thanks to sloppy play on the part of Mississippi. De La Rosa doubled and made it to third on Rivas’ bunt, a bunt that was misplayed and allowed all to reach safely. The Braves mistakenly tried to get De La Rosa at third and the close play did not allow a throw to first leaving Rivas safely on the bag. The comedy of errors continued when Eric Duncan could not handle a ball hit off the bat of Brett Lawrie that allowed the Stars infielder to pick up another RBI for bringing home De La Rosa. After a groundout left Mississippi with a chance to escape, Zelous Wheeler punctuated the frame by lining a shot off the leg of M-Braves pitcher Richard Sullivan and scoring Rivas.

Amaury Rivas wasn’t the only Huntsville pitcher to help offensively. Robert Hinton, who came on to finish the sixth, added an insurance run in the same inning with a two out single. The base hit was Hinton’s first of the year.

Rivas (10-5 2.67) departed with one out in the sixth and became the first Stars pitcher to win ten games in 2010. He scattered eight hits and allowed two earned runs while walking three and punching out five Mississippi batters on strikes. His win appeared to be in jeopardy in the ninth but Eddie Morlan worked out of the bases loaded jam to preserve the victory. Morlan, the third Stars pitcher of the inning, started Daniel with three balls out of the zone but came roaring back by throwing three straight strikes to bring the contest to a close.

With win number 18 for the second half in the bag and a Carolina loss, the Stars moved in to sole position of second place in the north remaining two games back of Tennessee. Huntsville can guarantee a series victory with a win Saturday as the current set continues at 6:00 p.m. (CDT).