Stars winning streak ends at four

By Connor Shreve

The Huntsville Stars (12-10) attempt at a series sweep was foiled by strong Mississippi pitching in a 5-1 loss Friday night in Huntsville.

True to form, Stars starter Mark Rogers (4-7 3.67) struggled early with 30 pitches in the first inning. He began the frame by hitting the first batter he faced. A triple followed to score the first run of the game, then came an RBI single off the bat of off Eric Duncan. The rest of the first was up and down but Rogers picked up the final out with runners on second and third to keep the deficit at two.

Huntsville could have been down by more but cut the lead in the bottom half of the first thanks to newcomer Chris Nowak. The big right hander singled home Zelous Wheeler with two outs before the first came to a close.

The Mississippi bullpen received one insurance run in the fourth and a couple more late but didn’t need any of them, holding the Stars scoreless through the remainder of the contest. Starter Kyle Cofield was removed in the third inning and the decision went to the first man out of the M-Braves pen, Richard Sullivan (3-8 5.92) who tossed three and one third scoreless innings.

The Stars have won seven of their last nine games and look to a new series with West Tennessee, which begins Saturday night at 6:00 (CDT)