Mark Rogers, Mike Jones, and Brandon Kintzler combined to strike-out seven while surrendering only four hits in Tuesday afternoon’s 4-0 victory for the Huntsville Stars (17-15) over the Montgomery Biscuits (17-14).
Rogers (2-2), a former first round draft pick of the Brewers, managed his control nicely through his five innings of work to earn the win. He walked three and struck-out three while allowing only one hit. After a couple of rocky outings, Tuesday matched Rogers’ season-high for innings pitched in a game.
The bullpen has been solid all year and Tuesday was no different. Long-time Star Mike Jones walked a bit of a tightrope, but ended up throwing three shutout innings of his own while giving up two hits, walking two, and striking out three.
Brandon Kintzler was Brandon Kintzler in the ninth…meaning he threw a scoreless frame with minimal problem. The reliever has now started the season with 13.2 innings of shutout ball.
The Stars took the early lead in the top of the second against Biscuits’ starter Jake McGee thanks to the bottom of their order. Chris Errecart singled to lead-off the frame. After Andy Machado walked, Juan Sanchez, recently called up from Brevard County, laid down a nice sacrifice bunt. Some small ball from Chuckie Caufield produced a sacrifice fly, scoring Errecart, and it was 1-0 Stars.
It was Errecart providing the spark again in the top of the fourth as he doubled with nobody out. A sacrifice bunt from Machado moved him to third and a throwing error on the play allowed Errecart to scamper all the way to the plate for the game’s second run.
Then the Stars did something they don’t normally do: use the long ball. After Brent Brewer singled in the fifth off reliever Justin Garcia, Martin Maldonado went yard for the second time this year to extend the lead to 4-0.
With the Smokies winning as well, the Stars remain four back in the North Division race.
Huntsville takes on the Biscuits Wednesday night at 7:05pm central time in game three of the five game series. Tune in at 6:50pm for the Window World Pre-Game Report.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Biscuits Inch Their Way Past Stars
By Aaron Morse
The Montgomery Biscuits (17-13) used some small ball after a long ball got them on the board and the Huntsville Stars (16-15) continued to struggle on offense as the Biscuits prevailed by a score of 3-2 Monday night.
The Biscuits got their first run against Stars starter Michael Bowman in the bottom of the second with a homer from Matt Fields, his team leading 6th bomb of the year. But the Stars responded right away in the top half of the third inning thanks to the bottom of their order. Brent Brewer started things off with a single to center. That was followed by a Martin Maldonado double to right, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody down. One out later Caleb Gindl grounded out to score Brewer. But that would be all the Stars could get that inning.
The Biscuits got an unearned run off Bowman in the bottom of the 5th inning as a Zelous Wheeler throwing error allowed Cody Strait to reach base with one away. Strait immediately stole second base. He advanced to third a single and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Emeel Salem.
Bowman got a no-decision in a strong outing as he went 5.2 innings, scattering five hits, giving up two runs, only one of which was earned, while walking two and striking out four.
The Stars would tie the game up in the top of the 7th thanks to more production from the bottom of the order. With one away, Andy Machado doubled to right. Then with two away, Chuck Caufield came up huge with a single up the gut and the game was tied.
Unfortunately the tie did not last long as the Biscuits got to reliever Mike McClendon (1-1) in the bottom half of the frame. Greg Sexton got things going with a double to right. A ground out moved him to third. Then John Matulia flied out to deep left to drive in Sexton.
That’d be all the solid Biscuits bullpen needed as Matt Gorgen nailed down his 6th save of the year and Dane De La Rosa (3-0) got the win in relief of starter Jeremy Hall.
Brent Brewer (3-4) had the only multi-hit game on either team.
The Stars remain four games back of the North Division leading Tennessee Smokies. They’re back in action Tuesday morning as they take on the Biscuits at 10:35 a.m. central time. Chris Cody (2-3) will be on the mound and you can hear all the action only on http://www.huntsvillestars.com.
The Montgomery Biscuits (17-13) used some small ball after a long ball got them on the board and the Huntsville Stars (16-15) continued to struggle on offense as the Biscuits prevailed by a score of 3-2 Monday night.
The Biscuits got their first run against Stars starter Michael Bowman in the bottom of the second with a homer from Matt Fields, his team leading 6th bomb of the year. But the Stars responded right away in the top half of the third inning thanks to the bottom of their order. Brent Brewer started things off with a single to center. That was followed by a Martin Maldonado double to right, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody down. One out later Caleb Gindl grounded out to score Brewer. But that would be all the Stars could get that inning.
The Biscuits got an unearned run off Bowman in the bottom of the 5th inning as a Zelous Wheeler throwing error allowed Cody Strait to reach base with one away. Strait immediately stole second base. He advanced to third a single and scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Emeel Salem.
Bowman got a no-decision in a strong outing as he went 5.2 innings, scattering five hits, giving up two runs, only one of which was earned, while walking two and striking out four.
The Stars would tie the game up in the top of the 7th thanks to more production from the bottom of the order. With one away, Andy Machado doubled to right. Then with two away, Chuck Caufield came up huge with a single up the gut and the game was tied.
Unfortunately the tie did not last long as the Biscuits got to reliever Mike McClendon (1-1) in the bottom half of the frame. Greg Sexton got things going with a double to right. A ground out moved him to third. Then John Matulia flied out to deep left to drive in Sexton.
That’d be all the solid Biscuits bullpen needed as Matt Gorgen nailed down his 6th save of the year and Dane De La Rosa (3-0) got the win in relief of starter Jeremy Hall.
Brent Brewer (3-4) had the only multi-hit game on either team.
The Stars remain four games back of the North Division leading Tennessee Smokies. They’re back in action Tuesday morning as they take on the Biscuits at 10:35 a.m. central time. Chris Cody (2-3) will be on the mound and you can hear all the action only on http://www.huntsvillestars.com.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Stars walk off with win
By Aaron Morse
Martin Maldonado singled home the game-winner and the Huntsville Stars (16-13) scored four in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx by a final score of 6-5 Friday night.
The Stars struck first in the game as they got two unearned runs off Diamond Jaxx starter Steve Bray in the bottom of the second. An error allowed Taylor Green to reach to lead things off. After Chris Errecart singled the runners were bunted over 90 feet by Andy Machado. Brent Brewer, who has been quite effective when he makes contact, singled home Green but Errecart was thrown out by left fielder Carlos Peguero in jarring collision at the plate. Brewer went to second on the throw and was singled home by Maldonado.
But after that the Stars’ bats went silent. They went down 1-2-3 in every inning except the 5th (when Maldonado drew a walk) from that inning on…until the fateful 9th.
Meanwhile the Diamond Jaxx were doing what they do best: hit the long ball. In the top of the third Carlos Triunfel homered to left off Stars starter Alex Periard. That was followed by a Carlos Peguero double. One out later Johan Limonta drew a walk. With two away, Alex Liddi showed why he’s the Diamond Jaxx’s RBI leader with a ringing double to score Peguero. After a visit to the mound from pitching coach John Curtis, Periard was able to get Dustin Ackley to roll a pitch over. The only problem was that it found a space in the infield on the right side where Machado had to dive to stop the ball. Ackley was safe at first with an infield single and Limonta scored.
Before you could say “here we go again” the Diamond Jaxx had a 3-2 lead.
They’d tack on one more in the fourth thanks to a Peguero bomb into the trees and one more in the sixth when Luis Oliveros hit one to the next county.
Periard went 6 innings, gave up 8 hits, 5 runs, all earned, walked 2 and struck out 3.
Mike Jones (1-1) entered in the seventh inning and pitched three frames of shut-out ball.
The Diamond Jaxx, nursing a 5-2 lead brought former first round pick Josh Fields in to get the save in the 9th inning. But things didn’t go exactly as planned.
Lee Haydel drew a lead-off walk and promptly stole second base. One out later Zelous Wheeler hit a shot down the third base line that landed barely fair for a double to drive in Haydel. That prompted a protest from Diamond Jaxx manager Tim Laker, who thought the ball had landed foul. More to come about that in a second.
Taylor Green busted out of his recent slump with a ringing double down the right field line to score Wheeler.
Then things got wacky. Chris Errecart hit a line drive down the first base line that appeared to land foul. He actually paused and turned around to go back to the plate, but saw the home plate umpire Chris Segal point “fair”, and so he took off running. Meanwhile, everyone on the Diamond Jaxx had stopped pursuing the ball because they assumed it was foul. By the time they realized it’d actually been called fair Errecart was standing on third base with a RBI triple.
Laker promptly got ejected from the game as he was absolutely incensed with the call.
Just like that the game was tied at 5. Two intentional walks later, the bases were loaded with only one down and Maldonado lined his shot to right off reliever Anthony Varvaro to win the game.
“I was looking for a fastball, because that guy throws hard, 91-97,” Maldonado said. “So I was looking for something to drive.”
It was the second walk-off hit of Maldonado’s professional career. He had one last year in Brevard County.
Jones got the win in relief while Fields picked up the loss.
With the Smokies losing today, the Stars are now three games back in the Northern Division.
The Stars are back in action Saturday evening with a 6:00pm Central Time first pitch on WTKI and http://www.huntsvillestars.com. Tune in at 5:45 for the Window World Pre-Game report. Mark Rogers (1-2, 4.95) is on the mound for the Stars.
Martin Maldonado singled home the game-winner and the Huntsville Stars (16-13) scored four in the bottom of the ninth inning to defeat the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx by a final score of 6-5 Friday night.
The Stars struck first in the game as they got two unearned runs off Diamond Jaxx starter Steve Bray in the bottom of the second. An error allowed Taylor Green to reach to lead things off. After Chris Errecart singled the runners were bunted over 90 feet by Andy Machado. Brent Brewer, who has been quite effective when he makes contact, singled home Green but Errecart was thrown out by left fielder Carlos Peguero in jarring collision at the plate. Brewer went to second on the throw and was singled home by Maldonado.
But after that the Stars’ bats went silent. They went down 1-2-3 in every inning except the 5th (when Maldonado drew a walk) from that inning on…until the fateful 9th.
Meanwhile the Diamond Jaxx were doing what they do best: hit the long ball. In the top of the third Carlos Triunfel homered to left off Stars starter Alex Periard. That was followed by a Carlos Peguero double. One out later Johan Limonta drew a walk. With two away, Alex Liddi showed why he’s the Diamond Jaxx’s RBI leader with a ringing double to score Peguero. After a visit to the mound from pitching coach John Curtis, Periard was able to get Dustin Ackley to roll a pitch over. The only problem was that it found a space in the infield on the right side where Machado had to dive to stop the ball. Ackley was safe at first with an infield single and Limonta scored.
Before you could say “here we go again” the Diamond Jaxx had a 3-2 lead.
They’d tack on one more in the fourth thanks to a Peguero bomb into the trees and one more in the sixth when Luis Oliveros hit one to the next county.
Periard went 6 innings, gave up 8 hits, 5 runs, all earned, walked 2 and struck out 3.
Mike Jones (1-1) entered in the seventh inning and pitched three frames of shut-out ball.
The Diamond Jaxx, nursing a 5-2 lead brought former first round pick Josh Fields in to get the save in the 9th inning. But things didn’t go exactly as planned.
Lee Haydel drew a lead-off walk and promptly stole second base. One out later Zelous Wheeler hit a shot down the third base line that landed barely fair for a double to drive in Haydel. That prompted a protest from Diamond Jaxx manager Tim Laker, who thought the ball had landed foul. More to come about that in a second.
Taylor Green busted out of his recent slump with a ringing double down the right field line to score Wheeler.
Then things got wacky. Chris Errecart hit a line drive down the first base line that appeared to land foul. He actually paused and turned around to go back to the plate, but saw the home plate umpire Chris Segal point “fair”, and so he took off running. Meanwhile, everyone on the Diamond Jaxx had stopped pursuing the ball because they assumed it was foul. By the time they realized it’d actually been called fair Errecart was standing on third base with a RBI triple.
Laker promptly got ejected from the game as he was absolutely incensed with the call.
Just like that the game was tied at 5. Two intentional walks later, the bases were loaded with only one down and Maldonado lined his shot to right off reliever Anthony Varvaro to win the game.
“I was looking for a fastball, because that guy throws hard, 91-97,” Maldonado said. “So I was looking for something to drive.”
It was the second walk-off hit of Maldonado’s professional career. He had one last year in Brevard County.
Jones got the win in relief while Fields picked up the loss.
With the Smokies losing today, the Stars are now three games back in the Northern Division.
The Stars are back in action Saturday evening with a 6:00pm Central Time first pitch on WTKI and http://www.huntsvillestars.com. Tune in at 5:45 for the Window World Pre-Game report. Mark Rogers (1-2, 4.95) is on the mound for the Stars.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Diamond Jaxx pound Stars
By Aaron Morse
The West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (12-13) got an outstanding performance from Michael Pineda (2-0), and their offense exploded for 13 runs as they crushed the Huntsville Stars (15-11) by a final score of 13-2 Tuesday night.
The Diamond Jaxx got on the board in the second inning thanks to a solo homer from former 2nd overall pick Dustin Ackley. But Stars’ starter Michael Bowman (2-3) was his own worst enemy in the third inning when he walked Kuo Hui Lo and Carlos Peguero consecutively with one away. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet and Johan Limonta took advantage by singling home both runners to extend the lead to 3-0. After Mike Wilson struck out, Guillermo Quiroz doubled home Limonta to make the score 4-0.
Bowman settled down after that, going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs while walking 3 and striking out 3 as well.
But the Diamond Jaxx busted the game wide open in the 6th against reliever Jim Henderson as they plated four runs. They’d tack on one more in the 7th and three more in the 8th off Casey Baron before the Stars threw up the white flag and brought in infielder Chris Errecart to pitch.
Meanwhile, Pineda was untouchable, going seven innings, giving up only four hits, walking one and striking out 11.
Huntsville got their runs in the 9th inning when Caleb Gindl hit a RBI single that plated Brett Lawrie. A double play later in the inning scored Gindl.
The Stars look to avenge the blowout Wednesday night at 7:00pm Central Time as they’ll send Chris Cody to the mound. Tune to http://www.huntsvillestars.com at 6:45 for the Window World Pre-Game Show.
The West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (12-13) got an outstanding performance from Michael Pineda (2-0), and their offense exploded for 13 runs as they crushed the Huntsville Stars (15-11) by a final score of 13-2 Tuesday night.
The Diamond Jaxx got on the board in the second inning thanks to a solo homer from former 2nd overall pick Dustin Ackley. But Stars’ starter Michael Bowman (2-3) was his own worst enemy in the third inning when he walked Kuo Hui Lo and Carlos Peguero consecutively with one away. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet and Johan Limonta took advantage by singling home both runners to extend the lead to 3-0. After Mike Wilson struck out, Guillermo Quiroz doubled home Limonta to make the score 4-0.
Bowman settled down after that, going 5 innings, giving up 6 hits and 4 runs while walking 3 and striking out 3 as well.
But the Diamond Jaxx busted the game wide open in the 6th against reliever Jim Henderson as they plated four runs. They’d tack on one more in the 7th and three more in the 8th off Casey Baron before the Stars threw up the white flag and brought in infielder Chris Errecart to pitch.
Meanwhile, Pineda was untouchable, going seven innings, giving up only four hits, walking one and striking out 11.
Huntsville got their runs in the 9th inning when Caleb Gindl hit a RBI single that plated Brett Lawrie. A double play later in the inning scored Gindl.
The Stars look to avenge the blowout Wednesday night at 7:00pm Central Time as they’ll send Chris Cody to the mound. Tune to http://www.huntsvillestars.com at 6:45 for the Window World Pre-Game Show.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Stars shine in late innings against Birmingham to sweep double header
By Aaron Morse
You like epic comebacks? Oh, we have some epic comebacks.
The Huntsville Stars (15-10) scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on Monday to defeat the Birmingham Barons (6-18) by a final score of 5-4 in game one of their double header.
Then they did it again in game two. Except this time they only needed two runs in the top of the seventh as they prevailed 4-3.
But let’s go back to the beginning. The Barons have struggled all year, but they sent their undisputed ace, and Southern League ERA leader Charles Shirek to the mound for game one. Not surprisingly, he was his usual dominating self for the first five innings. Meanwhile the Stars responded with former first round draft pick Mark Rogers. The Barons got to Rogers for one run in the first without recording a hit.
Rogers hit John Shelby III to start the inning. Shelby III was able to steal second base. With one down, Jim Gallagher drew a walk. The aggressive Barons proceeded to pull off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. Brent Morel grounded out to second base to score Shelby III, but that would be the extent of the damage in the first inning.
Zelous Wheeler nearly hit a homer off Shirek in the second inning, but a leaping catch by right fielder Salvador Sanchez took it away.
Rogers matched Shirek pitch for pitch until he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Lee Cruz started things off with a ringing double to left. Then Rogers was a victim of some bad luck as a Sanchez “Baltimore Chop” bounced over the head of Steffan Wilson and into right field. That scored Cruz and the lead was 2-0 for the Barons.
Then the Barons played some small ball. First, catcher Chase Blackwood bunted Sanchez over to second base. That was followed by a quick swipe of third. Manager Ever Magallanes went deep in to his bag of tricks and pulled out the old suicide squeeze. Justin Fuller executed it to perfection, and the Barons had a 3-0 lead.
After five complete, things didn’t look so great for the Stars, as they found themselves down 3-0 in a 7-inning game.
But that all changed in the top of the sixth. Lee Haydel, who has filled in nicely for the injured Lorenzo Cain in the lead-off spot, laced a double to right to start things off. Then Brett Lawrie hit a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Haydel and just like that Shirek had given up only his third run of the season. Down 3-1, the Stars kept the pressure on Shirek when with one away, Wheeler singled to right. That put runners on the corners for Taylor Green.
Manager Mike Guerrero decided to play some small ball himself as he sent Wheeler with two strikes on Green. Green struck-out, but the throw to second base got away from Fuller and Lawrie came in from third to cut the deficit to 3-2. Shirek would get out of the inning without any further damage, but the Stars had gotten within striking distance.
Unfortunately a solo homer from Morel in the top half of the seventh seemed to once again put the game at more than arm’s reach.
Then the Barons made a bit of a tactical mistake, they took out Shirek in favor of Miguel Socolovich (2-2) in the bottom half of the seventh.
Wilson led-off the inning and drew a walk. One out later Martin Maldonado also drew a walk. Then Haydel continued his phenomenal double header with a double to right field to score Wilson. But a Lawrie strikeout put the Stars down to their final out.
That’s when Caleb Gindl worked his magic. Gindl, who had the game-winning hit just two days ago, singled up the middle to plate both runners and give the Stars their first lead of the game.
That would be more than enough for Mark Willinsky (1-0), who after giving up the solo homer in the sixth out of the ‘pen, slammed the door in the bottom half of the seventh to earn his first win of the year.
But the great night for the Stars was just getting started.
In game two of the double header, the Barons once again jumped out to the early lead. This time against spot starter Mike Jones, the Barons scored three in the bottom half of the first inning.
Meanwhile, the Stars’ offense was once again quiet early, this time being shut-down by the younger brother of Chiefs’ QB Matt Cassel: Justin Cassel. They finally got to him in the fifth inning thanks in-part to the newest Star: Brent Brewer.
Wilson started the inning by drawing a walk. Brewer, who had already doubled in his first Stars’ at-bat, singled to move Wilson down to second base. A nice sacrifice bunt from Sean McCraw moved both runners up 90 feet. Then Cassel uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Wilson to score. Haydel, who had such a big impact in game one, smacked another double to score Brewer and the deficit all of a sudden was only 3-2. But Haydel, for reasons beyond anyone watching’s understanding, attempted to steal third with Lawrie at the plate and was thrown out by a mile. Lawrie would then strike-out to end the inning.
Robert Hinton relieved Jones to start the fifth inning. Jones, in his second start of the year, really settled down after the rough first inning and gave the Stars enough so they were able to stay within range of the Barons. But Hinton immediately ran into trouble as Gallagher doubled with one away. A single from Morel put runners at the corners.
Then what was basically the turning point of the game occurred. Christian Marrero hit a fly ball to center that Haydel caught for the second out. Gallagher attempted to score on the play, and Haydel’s throw had him beat by a few steps. Unfortunately the ball tipped off the top of McCraw’s glove and went all the way to the backstop where Hinton picked it up. Meanwhile, McCraw got absolutely run over on the play. It appeared that the Barons had a much needed insurance run, but the Stars appealed to third base and it was ruled that Gallagher had left the bag too early. The inning was over, and the Stars had officially turned their fourth double play in the past four innings of the game. In-between innings, manager Magallanes and Gallagher got the boot for vehemently arguing the call with home plate umpire Gerard Ascani.
The Stars would go down quietly in the sixth, but rose again in the seventh to complete yet another amazing comeback. This time the Barons kept their starter in to begin the inning, as Cassel had had a nice outing. But an error would open the floodgates as Chris Errecart hit a grounder to short that snuck under the glove of Greg Paiml. Wilson hit a grounder to second and they got the force on Errecart, but a hustling Wilson would beat the relay throw to first.
Then Wilson really showed some hustle. In the gutsiest move of the year, he stole second base. It was his first stolen base attempt of the year, and luckily for the Stars he was successful. Not only that, the throw went into center so Wilson was also able to advance to third on the play. Cassel walked Brewer and his day was done.
In came Joe Torres, who immediately got the second out of the inning when he got pinch hitter Brett Dowdy to pop out to short. For the second consecutive game, the Stars were down to their final out. Torres got two strikes on Haydel, but what was a theme for the day continued as Haydel came up big once again with a slap-shot down the left field line to score Wilson, tie the game, and advance Brewer to third. That would be all for Torres and Tyson Corley entered the game. Lawrie was able to beat out an infield single to score Brewer and the Stars took the 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
Mike McClendon (1-0) worked two shut-out innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win while Cassel (0-2) suffered the hard-luck loss.
Haydel had a huge day at the plate, going 5-8 in the double header and driving in three runs while scoring two of his own.
With the sweep, the Stars move to within three games of the Tennessee Smokies in the North Division.
The Stars head back home to Joe Davis Stadium for a five game set beginning on Tuesday against the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. The Stars took 3 of 5 when they went to Jackson earlier in the year. Michael Bowman (2-2, 4.58) will be on the mound for game one, which starts at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Join us on http://www.huntsvillestars.com for the Window World Pre-Game Report beginning at 6:45.
You like epic comebacks? Oh, we have some epic comebacks.
The Huntsville Stars (15-10) scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on Monday to defeat the Birmingham Barons (6-18) by a final score of 5-4 in game one of their double header.
Then they did it again in game two. Except this time they only needed two runs in the top of the seventh as they prevailed 4-3.
But let’s go back to the beginning. The Barons have struggled all year, but they sent their undisputed ace, and Southern League ERA leader Charles Shirek to the mound for game one. Not surprisingly, he was his usual dominating self for the first five innings. Meanwhile the Stars responded with former first round draft pick Mark Rogers. The Barons got to Rogers for one run in the first without recording a hit.
Rogers hit John Shelby III to start the inning. Shelby III was able to steal second base. With one down, Jim Gallagher drew a walk. The aggressive Barons proceeded to pull off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. Brent Morel grounded out to second base to score Shelby III, but that would be the extent of the damage in the first inning.
Zelous Wheeler nearly hit a homer off Shirek in the second inning, but a leaping catch by right fielder Salvador Sanchez took it away.
Rogers matched Shirek pitch for pitch until he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Lee Cruz started things off with a ringing double to left. Then Rogers was a victim of some bad luck as a Sanchez “Baltimore Chop” bounced over the head of Steffan Wilson and into right field. That scored Cruz and the lead was 2-0 for the Barons.
Then the Barons played some small ball. First, catcher Chase Blackwood bunted Sanchez over to second base. That was followed by a quick swipe of third. Manager Ever Magallanes went deep in to his bag of tricks and pulled out the old suicide squeeze. Justin Fuller executed it to perfection, and the Barons had a 3-0 lead.
After five complete, things didn’t look so great for the Stars, as they found themselves down 3-0 in a 7-inning game.
But that all changed in the top of the sixth. Lee Haydel, who has filled in nicely for the injured Lorenzo Cain in the lead-off spot, laced a double to right to start things off. Then Brett Lawrie hit a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Haydel and just like that Shirek had given up only his third run of the season. Down 3-1, the Stars kept the pressure on Shirek when with one away, Wheeler singled to right. That put runners on the corners for Taylor Green.
Manager Mike Guerrero decided to play some small ball himself as he sent Wheeler with two strikes on Green. Green struck-out, but the throw to second base got away from Fuller and Lawrie came in from third to cut the deficit to 3-2. Shirek would get out of the inning without any further damage, but the Stars had gotten within striking distance.
Unfortunately a solo homer from Morel in the top half of the seventh seemed to once again put the game at more than arm’s reach.
Then the Barons made a bit of a tactical mistake, they took out Shirek in favor of Miguel Socolovich (2-2) in the bottom half of the seventh.
Wilson led-off the inning and drew a walk. One out later Martin Maldonado also drew a walk. Then Haydel continued his phenomenal double header with a double to right field to score Wilson. But a Lawrie strikeout put the Stars down to their final out.
That’s when Caleb Gindl worked his magic. Gindl, who had the game-winning hit just two days ago, singled up the middle to plate both runners and give the Stars their first lead of the game.
That would be more than enough for Mark Willinsky (1-0), who after giving up the solo homer in the sixth out of the ‘pen, slammed the door in the bottom half of the seventh to earn his first win of the year.
But the great night for the Stars was just getting started.
In game two of the double header, the Barons once again jumped out to the early lead. This time against spot starter Mike Jones, the Barons scored three in the bottom half of the first inning.
Meanwhile, the Stars’ offense was once again quiet early, this time being shut-down by the younger brother of Chiefs’ QB Matt Cassel: Justin Cassel. They finally got to him in the fifth inning thanks in-part to the newest Star: Brent Brewer.
Wilson started the inning by drawing a walk. Brewer, who had already doubled in his first Stars’ at-bat, singled to move Wilson down to second base. A nice sacrifice bunt from Sean McCraw moved both runners up 90 feet. Then Cassel uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Wilson to score. Haydel, who had such a big impact in game one, smacked another double to score Brewer and the deficit all of a sudden was only 3-2. But Haydel, for reasons beyond anyone watching’s understanding, attempted to steal third with Lawrie at the plate and was thrown out by a mile. Lawrie would then strike-out to end the inning.
Robert Hinton relieved Jones to start the fifth inning. Jones, in his second start of the year, really settled down after the rough first inning and gave the Stars enough so they were able to stay within range of the Barons. But Hinton immediately ran into trouble as Gallagher doubled with one away. A single from Morel put runners at the corners.
Then what was basically the turning point of the game occurred. Christian Marrero hit a fly ball to center that Haydel caught for the second out. Gallagher attempted to score on the play, and Haydel’s throw had him beat by a few steps. Unfortunately the ball tipped off the top of McCraw’s glove and went all the way to the backstop where Hinton picked it up. Meanwhile, McCraw got absolutely run over on the play. It appeared that the Barons had a much needed insurance run, but the Stars appealed to third base and it was ruled that Gallagher had left the bag too early. The inning was over, and the Stars had officially turned their fourth double play in the past four innings of the game. In-between innings, manager Magallanes and Gallagher got the boot for vehemently arguing the call with home plate umpire Gerard Ascani.
The Stars would go down quietly in the sixth, but rose again in the seventh to complete yet another amazing comeback. This time the Barons kept their starter in to begin the inning, as Cassel had had a nice outing. But an error would open the floodgates as Chris Errecart hit a grounder to short that snuck under the glove of Greg Paiml. Wilson hit a grounder to second and they got the force on Errecart, but a hustling Wilson would beat the relay throw to first.
Then Wilson really showed some hustle. In the gutsiest move of the year, he stole second base. It was his first stolen base attempt of the year, and luckily for the Stars he was successful. Not only that, the throw went into center so Wilson was also able to advance to third on the play. Cassel walked Brewer and his day was done.
In came Joe Torres, who immediately got the second out of the inning when he got pinch hitter Brett Dowdy to pop out to short. For the second consecutive game, the Stars were down to their final out. Torres got two strikes on Haydel, but what was a theme for the day continued as Haydel came up big once again with a slap-shot down the left field line to score Wilson, tie the game, and advance Brewer to third. That would be all for Torres and Tyson Corley entered the game. Lawrie was able to beat out an infield single to score Brewer and the Stars took the 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish.
Mike McClendon (1-0) worked two shut-out innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win while Cassel (0-2) suffered the hard-luck loss.
Haydel had a huge day at the plate, going 5-8 in the double header and driving in three runs while scoring two of his own.
With the sweep, the Stars move to within three games of the Tennessee Smokies in the North Division.
The Stars head back home to Joe Davis Stadium for a five game set beginning on Tuesday against the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. The Stars took 3 of 5 when they went to Jackson earlier in the year. Michael Bowman (2-2, 4.58) will be on the mound for game one, which starts at 7:00 p.m. Central Time. Join us on http://www.huntsvillestars.com for the Window World Pre-Game Report beginning at 6:45.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Extra innings no problem for Stars
By Aaron Morse
Caleb Gindl came up big off the bench and Brandon Kintzler (1-0) earned his first win of the season as the Huntsville Stars (13-10) scored two runs in the ninth and one more in the 11th to prevail 4-3 over the Birmingham Barons (6-16) Saturday night.
The Stars’ biggest problem all year long has been defense, and the bottom of the first inning on Saturday was no different. John Shelby started things off with a grounder to short, the throw from Zelous Wheeler to first base was dropped by Chris Errecart. The next batter, Dale Mollenhauer lined a base hit to center field. It appeared they’d be able to get Mollenhauer out between first and second, but Brett Lawrie instead attempted to get Shelby going from first to third, and he threw it into the camera well, allowing Shelby to score and for Mollenhauer to advance to third. A ground-out scored Mollenhauer. But the Barons weren’t done. Brent Morel doubled to left, and with two outs Lee Cruz singled him home to extend the lead to 3-0.
But Huntsville battled back in the top half of the second inning thanks to some shaky defense on the Barons’ part. With one away, Chris Errecart reached on a throwing error by Morel. With two down, and two on after a Steffan Wilson single, Chuckie Caufield, playing in place of the injured Caleb Gindl, delivered a clutch single to left to drive in Errecart.
It would stay at a 3-1 score until the top half of the 9th inning. With one away, Errecart got the rally going with a single to center. Brett Dowdy got his first hit as a Star with a single to shallow leftfield. Wilson followed that with a two-strike single to right to load the bases with only one down. Then the Stars got a little dramatic as they pinch-hit with the previously injured Gindl. Caleb was able to draw a walk to drive in a run and cut the deficit to 3-2. A Martin Maldonado sacrifice fly tied the game, but Lee Haydel struck out to end the inning.
Errecart continued his nice day at the plate with a lead-off double in the top of the 11th. Two outs later, with Errecart on third, Gindl hit a slow chopper to third base. He was able to beat out the throw and the Stars took a 4-3 lead.
Alex Periard went six solid innings, scattering five hits and giving up three runs, but none of them were earned. Jim Henderson tossed 2.1 shutout innings in relief and Kintzler got the win thanks to 2.2 perfect innings to end the game.
Jhonny Nunez pitched well for the Barons, but got a no decision despite five solid innings and no earned runs surrendered. Henry Mabee blew his second save of the year in the ninth and Tyson Corley (0-1) suffered the loss.
The Stars return to action Sunday afternoon as they play 2:05pm central time game against the Barons. Mark Rogers (1-2) will be on the mound as the Stars look to clinch the series victory. Tune to WTKI or http://www.huntsvillestars.com for all the action.
Caleb Gindl came up big off the bench and Brandon Kintzler (1-0) earned his first win of the season as the Huntsville Stars (13-10) scored two runs in the ninth and one more in the 11th to prevail 4-3 over the Birmingham Barons (6-16) Saturday night.
The Stars’ biggest problem all year long has been defense, and the bottom of the first inning on Saturday was no different. John Shelby started things off with a grounder to short, the throw from Zelous Wheeler to first base was dropped by Chris Errecart. The next batter, Dale Mollenhauer lined a base hit to center field. It appeared they’d be able to get Mollenhauer out between first and second, but Brett Lawrie instead attempted to get Shelby going from first to third, and he threw it into the camera well, allowing Shelby to score and for Mollenhauer to advance to third. A ground-out scored Mollenhauer. But the Barons weren’t done. Brent Morel doubled to left, and with two outs Lee Cruz singled him home to extend the lead to 3-0.
But Huntsville battled back in the top half of the second inning thanks to some shaky defense on the Barons’ part. With one away, Chris Errecart reached on a throwing error by Morel. With two down, and two on after a Steffan Wilson single, Chuckie Caufield, playing in place of the injured Caleb Gindl, delivered a clutch single to left to drive in Errecart.
It would stay at a 3-1 score until the top half of the 9th inning. With one away, Errecart got the rally going with a single to center. Brett Dowdy got his first hit as a Star with a single to shallow leftfield. Wilson followed that with a two-strike single to right to load the bases with only one down. Then the Stars got a little dramatic as they pinch-hit with the previously injured Gindl. Caleb was able to draw a walk to drive in a run and cut the deficit to 3-2. A Martin Maldonado sacrifice fly tied the game, but Lee Haydel struck out to end the inning.
Errecart continued his nice day at the plate with a lead-off double in the top of the 11th. Two outs later, with Errecart on third, Gindl hit a slow chopper to third base. He was able to beat out the throw and the Stars took a 4-3 lead.
Alex Periard went six solid innings, scattering five hits and giving up three runs, but none of them were earned. Jim Henderson tossed 2.1 shutout innings in relief and Kintzler got the win thanks to 2.2 perfect innings to end the game.
Jhonny Nunez pitched well for the Barons, but got a no decision despite five solid innings and no earned runs surrendered. Henry Mabee blew his second save of the year in the ninth and Tyson Corley (0-1) suffered the loss.
The Stars return to action Sunday afternoon as they play 2:05pm central time game against the Barons. Mark Rogers (1-2) will be on the mound as the Stars look to clinch the series victory. Tune to WTKI or http://www.huntsvillestars.com for all the action.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Stars stopped in their tracks by Barons
By Aaron Morse
Brent Morel drove in two runs and the Huntsville Stars (11-10) left nine men on base as the Birmingham Barons (6-14) prevailed by a final score of 3-1 Thursday night.
The Barons got off to a fast start in the bottom of the first against Stars’ starter Chris Cody (2-2). With one away, Greg Paiml drew a walk. That was followed by a Jim Gallagher single to right. Chuck Caufield attempted to get Paiml going from first to third, but was unsuccessful, the resulting throw allowed Gallagher to advance to second. With two on in scoring position, it looked like the Barons were headed towards a big inning. Morel singled to right to score Paiml. The throw to the plate was cut-off as Gallagher held at third, but Morel attempted to head to second on the play and Chris Errecart threw him out. After the next batter was hit by a pitch, Cody was able to get out of the jam with no further damage as he struck out Lee Cruz.
The Barons threatened in the second inning as they loaded the bases with only one away. But Cody was able to get a good old fashioned 5-4-3 double play to escape the inning unscathed.
Then the Stars were able to get even things up thanks mostly to Lee Haydel in the bottom half of the second. Haydel started the inning with a beautiful bunt single. The speedster stole second and advanced to third as the throw sailed into centerfield. One out later Caufield grounded out to drive Haydel home.
The Stars struggled mightily throughout the game with runners in scoring position. They finished the game 0-8 in that category.
Cody settled down but gave up a solo homer to John Shelby in the fifth as the Barons took a 2-1 lead. Cody ended the day by tossing five innings, surrendering five hits, giving up two runs, while walking three and striking out three as well.
Morel would single home Paiml again in the eighth off reliever Mike Jones to give the Barons an insurance run.
Despite out-hitting the Barons 10-6, the Stars saw their hold on second place erased as both the Lookouts and the Diamond Jaxx won today.
All three teams are now four games back of the Tennessee Smokies. Join us on WTKI and http://www.huntsvillestars.com Friday, beginning at 6:50pm Central Time for the Window World Pre-Game Show. Amaury Rivas (3-0) will be on the mound as he looks to help break the Stars’ first 3-game losing streak of the year.
Brent Morel drove in two runs and the Huntsville Stars (11-10) left nine men on base as the Birmingham Barons (6-14) prevailed by a final score of 3-1 Thursday night.
The Barons got off to a fast start in the bottom of the first against Stars’ starter Chris Cody (2-2). With one away, Greg Paiml drew a walk. That was followed by a Jim Gallagher single to right. Chuck Caufield attempted to get Paiml going from first to third, but was unsuccessful, the resulting throw allowed Gallagher to advance to second. With two on in scoring position, it looked like the Barons were headed towards a big inning. Morel singled to right to score Paiml. The throw to the plate was cut-off as Gallagher held at third, but Morel attempted to head to second on the play and Chris Errecart threw him out. After the next batter was hit by a pitch, Cody was able to get out of the jam with no further damage as he struck out Lee Cruz.
The Barons threatened in the second inning as they loaded the bases with only one away. But Cody was able to get a good old fashioned 5-4-3 double play to escape the inning unscathed.
Then the Stars were able to get even things up thanks mostly to Lee Haydel in the bottom half of the second. Haydel started the inning with a beautiful bunt single. The speedster stole second and advanced to third as the throw sailed into centerfield. One out later Caufield grounded out to drive Haydel home.
The Stars struggled mightily throughout the game with runners in scoring position. They finished the game 0-8 in that category.
Cody settled down but gave up a solo homer to John Shelby in the fifth as the Barons took a 2-1 lead. Cody ended the day by tossing five innings, surrendering five hits, giving up two runs, while walking three and striking out three as well.
Morel would single home Paiml again in the eighth off reliever Mike Jones to give the Barons an insurance run.
Despite out-hitting the Barons 10-6, the Stars saw their hold on second place erased as both the Lookouts and the Diamond Jaxx won today.
All three teams are now four games back of the Tennessee Smokies. Join us on WTKI and http://www.huntsvillestars.com Friday, beginning at 6:50pm Central Time for the Window World Pre-Game Show. Amaury Rivas (3-0) will be on the mound as he looks to help break the Stars’ first 3-game losing streak of the year.
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