Stars Rookies Lead Doubleheader Sweep

July 21, 2003 - Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Huntsville, AL – The improbable happened on Sunday at Joe Davis Stadium. No, the unthinkable. Certainly, it was unbelievable. Huntsville's doubleheader with West Tenn featured the double-A debuts of two Stars pitchers. Neither one surrendered a run. Combined, they allowed just four hits over 13 innings, and Huntsville swept the twin bill, 10-0 and 1-0. The Stars (15-13, 55-41) gained a split of the four-game set and moved within one-half game of first in the Southern League West second-half race.

Game one belonged to Jeff Housman, a sinker-balling lefty who bedeviled the Jaxx over six one-hit innings. Jumping a level from low-A Beloit to the Southern League, Housman mowed down West Tenn, requiring just 62 pitches and recording 12 ground ball outs. He faced two batters over the minimum and allowed just three baserunners, on two walks and a bloop single. Housman did not record a single strikeout – he never needed one. Housman went to a three-ball count only three times all night.

Right-hander Jason Shelley dominated West Tenn in game two, striking out 10, just one short of all-star Luis Martinez's team-high 11 back on April 6. Fresh from two record-setting seasons with Rockford in the independent Frontier League, Shelley walked none in an overpowering three-hit shutout. Shelley (1-0) threw 87 pitches and went to a three-ball count only twice. It was the Stars' second complete game this season – Martinez has the other.

Huntsville's offense exploded in game one, lashing 12 hits and scoring 10 runs. Four-spots in the third and fourth innings put the game away. Dave Krynzel and Brandon Gemoll paced the attack with three hits and two runs batted in apiece. J.J. Hardy ripped a three-run homer to left-center and finished 2-for-4. Ryan Gripp went 1-for-2 with a two-run bomb to left, and Kade Johnson was 2-for-2 with a double and two runs scored.

In game two, the game swung on a critical fourth-inning error by Jaxx pitcher Felix Sanchez. Krynzel led off the inning with a bunt back to the mound, where Sanchez briefly bobbled the ball. Krynzel capitalized with his speed, beating Sanchez's throw to first. After Krynzel stole second, his second in the doubleheader and league-high 33rd this season, Hardy advanced Krynzel to third with a groundout. Ryan Gripp struck out against reliever Jason Szuminski, but Brandon Gemoll hit a bouncer over Szuminski's head for a base hit to center, scoring Krynzel for the game's only run.

Jae-Kuk Ryu (1-1) suffered the loss in game one, permitting eight runs, six earned, on eight hits and two walks in 3 2/3 innings. Sanchez (1-1) took the loss in game two, permitting an unearned run on one hit and two walks over 3 1/3 innings. Stars reliever Matt Parker tossed a scoreless seventh in game one, allowing only an infield-single.

Huntsville resumes play Tuesday with the first of a four-game series against Tennessee. Right-hander Pedro Liriano (5-10, 3.41) takes the mound for the Stars. Game time is 7:05 p.m.



Southern League Stories from July 21, 2003


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