Stars Flex Muscle in Blanking of BayBears

Published on May 29, 2008 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Brae Wright tossed eight shutout innings and was the beneficiary of four home runs, as Huntsville bounced back from a crushing loss to crush Mobile Thursday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Hank Aaron Stadium. The Stars improved to 33-21 on the season and moved into a tie for first place in the North Division after West Tenn fell at Mississippi, while the BayBears dropped to 22-32 and were shutout for a sixth time.

Mike Bell was hit by a pitch to lead off the third inning, moved to third base on a one-out single by Michael Brantley and scored on an Alcides Escobar fly ball to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Huntsville has scored first in all four games in the set. Mat Gamel followed with a single before Salome unloaded on a 1-1 offering from Hector Ambriz for his fifth home run of the season and second of the series. Chris Errecart's lead off long ball in the fourth increased the visitors' advantage to 5-0.

With one out in the seventh, Michael Brantley belted Ambriz's first pitch over the wall and on to the roof of the clubhouse building for his first home run this season and just the third of his career to make it 6-0. Escobar singled and Gamel then delivered his second monstrous home run in as many nights, and his 12th of the season, to make it 8-0 and knock Ambriz out of the game. The right-hander suffered his league-high seventh loss after yielding eight runs on nine hits, while walking one and striking out five. Ambriz has allowed a league-high 13 round-trippers, with nine of them coming at home.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the power surge, Wright allowed five hits, walked one and fanned five to win his second straight start to improve to 3-5. He recorded a dozen ground ball outs, did not allow a runner to advance past first base and did not face more than four batters in any frame. David Johnson tossed a shutout ninth inning, giving up a two-out single to Cesar Nicolas before Cyle Hankerd flied out to end the game, as the BayBears never pushed a runner to second base.

The series finishes Friday night with right-hander Donovan Hand taking the hill for Huntsville against BayBears' right-hander Matt Torra. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

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Southern League Stories from May 29, 2008


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