Katin "Krushes" and Parra Pitches Stars to Victory

Published on April 17, 2007 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Brendan Katin collected four hits, including a grand slam, and knocked in six runs to back the five perfect innings tossed by Manny Parra in Huntsville's 10-2 win over Jacksonville Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars halted a two-game slide to improve to 5-5 and maintain their share of the lead in the North Division, while the visitors fell to 6-6 on the season and four games behind front-running Birmingham in the Southern League South. The Stars defeated the Suns for the first time in 13 tries dating back to a 7-5 decision on June 27, 2005 at "the Joe."

Katin delivered a two-out, two-run bases loaded single in the first inning to get the home on the board and post the first runs against Jacksonville starter William Juarez, who had tossed 14 scoreless innings in his first two starts of the season. Hernan Iribarren delivered a two-out, run-scoring double in the second inning to give the Stars a 3-0 edge.

Lou Palmisano walked to lead off in the third and Steve Sollmann followed with a home run to left field, the first for the Stars on the season, which ended the longest drought without a long ball at the start of the season in franchise history. It was also just the third home run in his career in 1,068 at-bats. Katin, who had started the year 4-for-32, slugged a monstrous grand slam to left-center field with two outs in the fourth to push the lead to 9-0. Jeff Eure followed with a single and scored the final run for the home side when Yohanis Perez tripled into the left field corner. The 10 runs for the Stars doubled their previous season-high and the 12 hits they collected were the most in any game this season.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the offensive barrage, Parra quietly and effectively retired the first 15 batters he faced before Anthony Raglani led off with a double into right field on the first pitch of the sixth inning. Alberto Concepcion followed with a single and Chin-Lung Hu's fielder's choice grounder two batters later plated Raglani with the visitors first run.

Marshall McDougal singled in the Suns second run in the seventh and Parra was taken out with the bases loaded and one out after allowing five hits, walking one and fanning seven. Marino Salas retired the next two hitters to get out of trouble in the seventh and worked scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the Stars most lopsided win of the year. Juarez was charged with all 10 runs, on 10 hits, over four frames and suffered his first loss of the season.

The series continues Wednesday morning with Huntsville sending left-hander Adam Pettyjohn to the hill against Suns' left-hander Eric Cyr. Coverage of the game begins at 10:20 a.m. central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

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Southern League Stories from April 17, 2007


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