Stars Downed by M-Braves in Series Opener

August 2, 2013 - Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


To open up a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium, the Huntsville Stars lost to the Mississippi Braves by a score of 13-2 on Friday night.

In each of the first five innings, the M-Braves scored at least one run against the Stars pitching staff including eight runs in the first three innings against starting pitcher Drew Gagnon.

Against the 23-year-old righty, Mississippi got a solo homer from second basemen Tommy LaStella in the first inning, a two-run blast from first basemen Christian Marrero in the second inning and a pair of two-run hits from shortstop Jaime Pedroza and outfielder Dan Brewer in the third inning.

Gagnon ultimately gave up eight runs (seven earned) in three innings of work in falling to 4-6 on the season, snapping his three-start winning streak.

Following Gagnon's departure, the big night for Mississippi and Pedroza continued. After left fielder Robby Heffinger came through with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, a RBI single from Pedroza off Stars righty Mark Williams made the score 9-1.

Then, in the eighth inning, Pedroza cleared the bases with a three-run double against reliever Casey Medlen to give the M-Braves their final runs of the game. In the end, the M-Braves shortstop went 3-for-5 with a season-high six runs batted in on the ballgame.

Mississippi scored their only other run of the ballgame on a RBI single from outfielder Mycal Jones in the fifth inning.

That run support was plenty for M-Braves starting pitcher Aaron Northcraft. The 10th ranked prospect in the Braves notched his third straight win and improved to 6-8 on the year after giving up one runs on four hits in five innings of work.

On offense, the Stars got a three-hit night from outfielder Rene Tosoni, who also drove in the Stars first run of the game in the third inning.

The only other run of the game for the Stars came on a solo blast from first basemen Jason Rogers in the eighth inning against former Huntsville reliever Thomas Keeling. For Rogers, it was his fifth homer in the last six games and league-leading 19th roundtripper of the season. The homer also increased Rogers's hitting streak to 14 games.

On Saturday, the Stars will play game two of a five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium against Mississippi. Huntsville will send RHP Andy Moye (5-11, 4.25 ERA) to the bump to try to snap their four-game losing skid while the M-Braves will counter with RHP Gus Schlosser (6-3, 2.35 ERA). First pitch is 6:43 ET.



Southern League Stories from August 2, 2013


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