Stars Fall in Playoff Opener

Published on September 6, 2007 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Mark Holliman twirled seven strong innings and Rocky Roquet survived a rocky eighth and ninth inning to nail down a 6-3 win for Tennessee over Huntsville Thursday night in the opener of the best-of-five North Division playoff series. The Smokies ended a seven-game skid at Joe Davis Stadium and won on the Stars' turf for only the second time in ten tries this season.

Stars' starter Sam Narron retired the first two hitters of the game before Casey McGehee walked, Tyler Colvin doubled and both runners scored on an Issmael Salas double. Chris Robinson followed with a single to center field to plate Salas and then scored two batters later on a base hit by Robinson Chirinos that capped off a four-run first inning rally. The southpaw was scored on in the first inning in 11 of his 26 regular season starts, including four of twelve at home. McGehee added a two-out run-scoring hit in the fourth to make it 5-0. Narron was lifted after four frames, giving up five runs, four earned, on eight hits and a pair of walks.

Holliman walked Adam Heether with two outs in the fourth and Lou Palmisano followed with a double to score the Stars' third sacker with the home team's first run of the night. The Tennessee right-hander gave up a run-scoring double to Steve Sollmann in the seventh inning that cut the lead to 5-2. Holliman, who spun a no-hitter against the Stars on June 21, gave up two runs on five hits, while striking out six and was replaced in the eighth inning by southpaw Geoffrey Jones.

Ryan Crew drew a one-out walk as a pinch-hitter, moved to second on a ground out and scored on a single by Hernan Iribarren that sliced the Smokies' lead to 5-3. Jones walked Heether and was taken out of the game and replaced by right-hander Rocky Roquet, who walked the righty-swinging Palmisano on four pitches to load the bases before getting Sollmann to fly out to end the threat.

Bo Hall worked a perfect fifth inning in relief and Robert Hinton threw three scoreless innings, retiring nine out of ten, before EJ Shanks took over in the ninth for Huntsville. He gave up a scoring fly ball to McGehee that pushed the visitors' lead back to three. Roquet then walked Brendan Katin and gave up a single to Steve Moss to open the ninth before striking out Guilder Rodriguez and getting Crew to ground into a game-ending double play to earn the save.

The series continues Friday night with right-hander Corey Thurman taking the hill for Huntsville against Smokies' right-hander Justin Berg. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on 92.5 WVNN FM and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

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Southern League Stories from September 6, 2007


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