Stars Continue Winning Ways on the Road

Published on June 6, 2009 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Donovan Hand tossed six solid innings in his second start of the season and Huntsville survived a late rally to hold on for a 7-5 victory over West Tenn Saturday night in the second of a six-game set at Pringles Park. The Stars improved to 32-22 and maintained their two-game lead in the North Division over Carolina, which won at Jacksonville. The Diamond Jaxx fell to 22-34 on the season after losing to the Stars for a tenth time in eleven tries. Huntsville lifted its' road record to 20-9 with a ninth straight victory away from home.

Marshall Hubbard's two-run home run in the first inning staked the struggling Jaxx to a 2-0 lead and ended a 29 1/3 inning drought without a run. The home run was only the second allowed by Hand, who had a personal 18 1/3 innings streak without giving up an earned run snapped. Hand gave up only two singles over the next five innings and departed having allowed five hits, while walking two and striking out two. He grabbed the win to improve to 4-1 by earning his third win on the road.

Chuck Caufield's lead off long ball, his third of the season, in the third inning got the visitors on the board. Bray worked out of further trouble in the inning when he caught a Jonathan Lucroy line drive and doubled Adam Stern off of second base. Caufield led off the fifth with a walk, moved to second base on a Logan Schafer single and scored to tie the game on a two-out hit by Lucroy, who knocked in his 26th run of the season. Former Stars' pitcher Steve Bray was lifted after five frames, giving up two runs on seven hits, walking two and fanning one in his fifth start of the season.

Vinny Rottino led off the sixth inning against Mumba Rivera with a walk, moved to third base on a fielding error and scored the go-ahead run on a line drive sacrifice fly by Caufield, his first of the season. Huntsville tacked on four runs in the eighth against Joe Newby to move out to a seemingly comfortable 7-2 lead. The right-hander gave up a run on a passed ball and another on a wild pitch and was lifted after his fourth walk of the frame loaded the bases with two outs. Kevin Melillo ripped Matt Renfree's first pitch for a two-run single to cap off the rally but Lucroy was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Juan Sandoval worked out of a runners at first and second one out jam in the seventh inning but wasn't so fortunate in the eighth. He hit Marshall Hubbard to load the bases and then plunked Brent Johnson to force in a run that cut the lead to 7-3 and ended his night on the hill. Casey Baron entered with the bases loaded and nobody out and recorded three consecutive ground ball outs to end the inning, though two of them chased home runs to trim the visitors' lead to two. Robert Hinton worked a perfect ninth inning to record a save for a fourth straight outing and his seventh on the season.

The series continues with a doubleheader Sunday, as right-handers Mike Jones and Mike McClendon will be the Huntsville starters, while West Tenn right-handers Luis Munoz and Kyle Parker will be the home team's starters. Coverage of the games begins at 1:50 pm central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

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Southern League Stories from June 6, 2009


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