Stars Survive Shaky Ninth to Beat BayBears

Published on May 5, 2008 under Southern League (SL1)
Huntsville Stars News Release


Michael Brantley collected three hits and knocked in three runs and Huntsville hung on through a shaky ninth inning to defeat Mobile 8-6 Monday in the opener of a five-game set Monday night at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars improved to 21-10 and maintained their share of the lead in the North Division, while the BayBears dropped to 15-16 but stayed a game behind Birmingham in the South Division. The Stars improved to 14-2 at home and have started each of their four home series with a win.

Juan Sandoval opened the ninth on the hill for Huntsville with an 8-4 lead and ran into trouble with one out after walking Cesar Nicolas, yielding a double to Rusty Ryal and walking Frank Curreri to load the bases. Cyle Hankerd's fourth single of the game plated Nicolas to trim the Stars lead to 8-5. Pinch-hitter Brandon Burgess then bounced into a force out at second to score Ryal to make it 8-6 but Curreri rounded the bag too far at third base and was tagged out by Mat Gamel to end the game after an alert read of the play and throw by shortstop Alcides Escobar.

Brantley's two-out, two-run double capped a four-run sixth inning rally that gave the home side a 7-1 lead. David Johnson took over on the mound for the Stars in the seventh and yielded a two-out, run-scoring double to Bryan Byrne and a two-run, two-bagger by Ryal that cut the lead in half. Brantley's run-scoring hit in the eighth pushed the Huntsville advantage to four.

Stars' starter Steve Hammond walked Ryal and gave up hits to Curreri and Hankerd to load the bases with nobody out in the second before he struck out John Hester and starter Brooks Brown and got Guillermo Reyes to fly out to end the inning. Hammond went six solid innings, allowing a run, on a Ryal long ball, on six hits to earn his fourth win of the year and his first at home since Opening Day.

Matt LaPorta's RBI ground out, a sacrifice fly by Angel Salome and a run-scoring single by Escobar staked Hammond to a 3-0 lead after five. Salome singled home two in the sixth and picked up three of the Stars' season-high 16 hits. Brown suffered the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits over 5.2 innings of work.

The series continues Tuesday night with left-hander Derek Miller taking the mound against BayBears' right-hander Tony Barnette. 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.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Southern League Stories from May 5, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central