Stars Squander Early Lead Against M-Braves

Published on August 5, 2013 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


A night after a walkoff walk that snapped their five-game losing streak, the Huntsville Stars squandered a two-run lead and lost against the Mississippi Braves by a score of 7-4 on Monday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

For the Stars, their early advantage came on one swing of the bat in the bottom of the first inning. With outfielder Rene Tosoni on base after a one-out walk, third basemen Mike Walker launched a two-run blast off of M-Braves starting pitcher Michael Lee (W, 6-8) to put Huntsville up on top early.

Unfortunately, that is where Mississippi took control of the game. After a RBI single from outfielder Dan Brewer cut the Stars lead to one in the second inning, a solo homer from outfielder Jose Martinez off of Huntsville starting pitcher Ariel Pena tied things up at two apiece in the bottom of the third inning.

One inning later, second basemen Tommy LaStella came through with a bases loaded, three-run double to put the M-Braves up by a score of 5-2 and chased Pena from the game. The 24-year-old righty fell to 5-8 on the year after giving up five runs (four earned) in 3.1 innings pitched while striking out five batters in the process.

From that point on, the Stars and the M-Braves traded runs for the rest of the contest.

Huntsville got a RBI single from Hector Gomez in the third inning and a solo homer from Brock Kjeldgaard in the sixth inning as their only other runs while Mississippi got a pair of solo homers from third basemen Barrett Kleinknecht in the sixth and eighth inning respectively for their insurance runs.

For Gomez, the RBI double increased his hitting streak to a season-high six games while Kjeldgaard paced the Stars offense with a 4-for-4 night at the dish. Kjeldgaard is the sixth Stars player this year to record a four-hit game and is the fourth player to do so over the last month along with 1B Jason Rogers, OF Chadwin Stang and C Shawn Zarraga.

Speaking of Rogers, a 0-for-4 night at the plate snapped his hitting streak at 17 games. It was the longest hitting streak for any Stars player this season and the longest since 2008 when current Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy owned a 22-game hit streak of his own.

The loss clinches a series victory for the M-Braves,

On Tuesday, the Stars will finish up a five-game series at Joe Davis Stadium against the Mississippi Braves. Huntsville will send RHP Brooks Hall (5-7, 4.14 ERA) to the bump while Mississippi will counter with LHP Ian Thomas (6-6, 2.81 ERA). First pitch is 6:43 ET.

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Southern League Stories from August 5, 2013


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