Stars Lose Third Straight

Published on July 3, 2012 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - After being shutout in their previous two consecutive games, the Huntsville Stars fell to the Birmingham Barons by a score of 13-4 on Monday night at Regions Park.

In the second inning, Birmingham got the scoring started. After back-to-back singles by right fielder Brady Shoemaker and third baseman Eric Morrison, an error by Stars first baseman Hunter Morris on a grounder off the bat of right fielder Kenny Williams Jr. allowed both runs to score.

Trailing 2-0, the Stars finally were able to tack on their first run in 24 innings in the third inning. Left fielder Lee Haydel hit a single followed by a walk from center fielder Josh Prince. Second baseman Scooter Gennett plated Haydel to put the Stars on the board and cut the Birmingham lead in half.

Unfortunately, the Barons offense was just heating up. With a leadoff single from shortstop Tyler Saladino, a walk from center fielder Jared Mitchell, and a single by designated hitter Seth Loman, Birmingham loaded the bases off of Stars starter Evan Anundsen to begin the third inning. Then, with two outs, Morrison cleared the bases with a double down the left field line. He scored the next at-bat on a RBI double by catcher Luis Sierra that made the score 6-1.

After the Stars got an RBI single by Morris in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to four, Birmingham answered back in the bottom half of the frame. Following a leadoff double by Loman, a RBI double by first baseman Andy Wilkins increased the Barons lead back up to five. Two batters later, Wilkins scored on an RBI single by Morrison to make the score 8-2.

That marked the end of the night for Anundsen. The Stars starting pitcher fell to 4-4 on the year after giving up eight runs (six earned) on eight hits in four innings of work.

With the Stars scoring a run in the sixth inning on a RBI double by third baseman Juan Sanchez, Birmingham put their exclamation point on the ballgame in the bottom half of the frame off of Stars relievers Dan Merklinger and R.J Seidel. On another RBI single by Morrison, a three-run triple by Sierra and a RBI groundout from Williams Jr., Birmingham batted around and took a commanding 13-3 lead.

The Stars scored the final run of the game in the top of the seventh inning when shortstop Domnit Bolivar was hit by a pitch from Barons reliever Leroy Hunt with the bases loaded.

For Birmingham, starting pitcher Andre Rienzo improved to 3-0 on the year after giving up two runs in five innings of work. Rienzo also struck out a season-high 10 batters, which is the largest total for a Barons starting pitcher in a single game this season.

On offense, the Stars cranked out 14 hits, seven of them from Morris and Gennett combined. Overall, Morris went 4-for-4 with a double and a RBI while Gennett went 3-for-5 with a RBI. Haydel also chipped in with two hits. On the flip side, Huntsville also left 16 runners on base.

Game three of a three-game series will begin on Tuesday as the Stars will send RHP Kyle Heckathorn (2-8, 5.04 ERA) to the mound to square off against Barons RHP Spencer Arroyo (2-0, 5.40 ERA). First pitch is at 6:00 PM.

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Southern League Stories from July 3, 2012


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