Link Report for Games of Sunday, June 22nd

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 7, West Tenn (Mariners) 3

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

Gamel Gets Going Again in Stars' Win

Stars Head Out on 10-Game Trip After Back-to-Back Victories

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Mat Gamel drove in two runs and finished a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, as Huntsville downed West Tenn 7-3 Sunday evening at Joe Davis Stadium to gain a split of their six-game series to begin the second half of the season. The Stars won for a 25th time at home to improve to 44-32 overall, while the Jaxx dropped to 44-32 overall, as well. The Stars have won seven of the 16 games between the two teams.

 

Carlos Corporan's run-scoring hit in the second inning staked the Stars to the lead against Ryan Ketchner, who had defeated them Tuesday in the playoff game to determine the first half division winner. Gamel's solo home run, his 15th of the season, pushed the lead to 2-0 in the third before a throwing error by third baseman Matt Mangini on a Mike Bell infield single allowed Gillespie to score from third base to make it 3-0.

 

Mike Jones started for the Stars and was aided by inning-ending double plays in the second and third innings and was taken out after reaching his pitch limit in the fourth inning having walked Luis Valbuena and hit Mike Wilson to start the frame. Jason Shiell came on and induced Adam Moore to ground into a double play and got Jon Nelson to fly out to end the inning. Mark Kiger scored on a wild pitch in the fifth to cut the lead to 3-1 before Shiell worked out of trouble in the sixth by getting Jeffrey Dominguez to fly out with two runners on to end the inning.

 

Bell led off the home sixth with a single and scored when Corporan followed with a home run to right field to extend the Huntsville advantage to 5-1. It was his third of the season and first since May 17 and just the fifth allowed by Ketchner in 80 innings. Chris Errecart followed with a double to chase Ketchner and scored on a two-out single by Alcides Escobar to give the Stars a 6-1 cushion. Escobar would then score all the way from first on a Gamel single to deep right-center field to finish the four-run frame. Ketchner was charged with a season-high six runs, five earned, on nine hits and suffered the loss to drop to 6-3.

 

Shiell earned his first win after allowing a run on five hits over three innings and was replaced by Robert Hinton, who gave up a two-out, two-run single to Valbuena in the seventh. The West Tenn second sacker homered twice and drove in 10 runs in the series. Hinton retired the next six hitters before a Brent Johnson single and then struck out Greg Halman, who had hit the game-winning homer off him Thursday night, to end the game. Hinton earned his first save since April 6, allowing four hits and fanning two.

 

The Stars open a six-game series at Carolina on Tuesday night with southpaw Derek Miller taking the hill against Mudcats' right-hander Josh Johnson, who is on a rehab assignment from the big leagues. Coverage of the game begins at 6:00 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score

Chris Errecart batting 8th in Don Money's lineup (Freddy Parejo 9th); Mat Gamel could hit blindfolded...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

'Solid' day works out for Stars

7-3 win over West Tenn in series finale a grand send-off for long road trip

By SKIP VAUGHN

For The Huntsville Times, skip.vaughn@htimes.com

 

The Huntsville Stars faced nemesis West Tenn on Sunday for the 11th time in the last 17 days. The teams had split the first 10 games in Huntsville.

 

"They're a good club. We've been battling with these guys just about all year," Stars manager Don Money said. "Whoever bats last usually wins. It's just that kind of battle."

 

The Stars won Sunday's battle over the Diamond Jaxx 7-3 before an announced crowd of 1,782 at Joe Davis Stadium. Both teams are 3-3 in the second half, but West Tenn won the first-half title in the Southern League North Division.

 

"We played a pretty solid game," Money said. "Against that team over there you never seem to have enough runs. They keep coming back. They probably say the same thing about us. It was a pretty solid game all the way around. We got some timely hitting and good pitching."

 

Mat Gamel went 3-for-4 with a home run, double and two RBIs as the Stars outhit West Tenn 11-10.

 

"I've been scuffling a little bit lately," Gamel said. "I was trying to slow everything down and see the ball better."

 

Carlos Corporan had two hits with a two-run homer and three RBIs.

 

"It's really a good win because now we're going to hit the road for 10 days," Corporan said. "Now we take a positive thing for the road."

 

Stars starter Mike Jones, who was on a pitch count, went three scoreless innings and allowed one hit. Jason Shiell (1-1) got the win as Robert Hinton earned his third save, each pitching three innings in relief.

 

Huntsville's Cole Gillespie opened the scoring in the second inning when he hit a leadoff double, advanced to third on a balk and scored on Corporan's RBI single to right.

 

Gamel put the Stars up 2-0 in the third with his 15th homer, a towering drive to right center off West Tenn starter Ryan Ketchner (6-3).

 

They added an unearned run when Gillespie walked, advanced to second on an errant throw by Ketchner during a pickoff attempt and scored on Mike Bell's two-out hit and a throwing error by Jaxx third baseman Matt Mangini.

 

The Diamond Jaxx scored in the fifth when Mark Kiger reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to third on Brent Johnson's single and scored on a wild pitch by Shiell.

 

Corporan powered the lead to 5-1 with a two-run homer in the sixth, his third of the year. The Stars added two more runs on RBI singles by Alcides Escobar and Gamel.

 

Luis Valbuena hit a two-run single for West Tenn in the seventh against Hinton.

 

The Stars are off today before a 10-day road trip that includes six games at Carolina and four at Tennessee. They return home July 4 for four games against Birmingham.

 

"You're in a little stretch here, it might make you or break you for this (second) half," Money said. "Ten to 14 games you're facing some pretty good teams in there."

 

Roster move: The Milwaukee Brewers, the Stars' parent club, activated pitcher David Johnson from the disabled list.

 

To make room for Johnson on the Huntsville roster, the Brewers sent pitcher Josh Wahpepah to Single-A Brevard County.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio with Manager Don Money

Make sure you are on the WUMP audio archive of June 22nd, then go the 02:15 minute mark...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Dunedin (Blue Jays) 4, Brevard County 1

Brevard County Box Score

Story of the game was 12 stranded Manatees, which actually reads more like an environmental disaster; 9th place hitter SS Jimmy Mojica had three singles and walked, but did not score or drive in a run, no fault of his own; Chris Cody surrendered a two-run double in the 2nd, and a two-run home run in the 4th -- there was your ballgame right there...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Kenny Holmberg left the game after being hit by a pitch in the 4th...

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Virginia 8, Kannapolis (White Sox) 7, six innings, rain

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

POWER WIN IN SIX

 

The West Virginia Power played a rain-shortened, six inning contest against the Kannapolis Intimidators at FieldCrest Cannon Stadium on Sunday evening, and scored multiple runs in three different frames to defeat the Intimidators 8-7.

 

The Power scored three times on a pair of hits in the first inning. Steffan Wilson tripled in the first two runs and he scored on Eric Fryer's groundout.

 

Kannapolis answered with a four-run first inning. Jim Gallagher's base hit scored Sergio Miranda before the Intimidators plated the final three runs with two outs. Lee Cruz doubled in a pair to tie the game and Matt Inouye singled in a run to give Kannapolis the lead.

 

The Power regained the lead quickly with a three-run second inning. Sergio Morales's error in center field allowed Anderson Delarosa to score before Lee Haydel doubled in David Fonseca. Eric Farris's groundout plated Matt Cline to complete the inning.

 

Power starting pitcher Dan Merklinger walked the first two batters of the second inning before Gallagher's RBI single knocked him out of the game. Curtis Pasma relieved Merklinger and allowed a single to Mark Fleisher to load the bases. He got Logan Johnson to fly out to left field before Lee Cruz grounded into an inning ending 5-4-3 double play.

 

Caleb Gindl doubled in two runs with two outs in the sixth inning to give the Power an 8-5 lead. Gallagher smacked his third RBI single of the game in the sixth before Fleisher's sacrifice fly plated Sergio Miranda to make it a one-run game again. It started raining in the sixth inning, but it wasn't until the top of the seventh when the teams were brought off the field. The game was delayed for 43 minutes until it was finally called.

 

Pasma (2-2) was sensational in relief. He tossed four scoreless innings of three-hit ball and struck out three to get the victory. Corey Frerichs (4) allowed a pair of runs on two hits in the sixth inning and got the save. Charlie Shirek (2-4) allowed six runs on eight hits over five innings and was tagged with the loss.

 

The Power improved to 34-39 on the year and 2-2 in the second half with the win, while the Intimidators fell to 33-41 on the year and 2-2 in the second half with the loss. Six Power players hit safely, including Gindl, Curt Rindal and Delarosa who all paced the Power with two hits apiece. Haydel's double in the second extended his hitting streak to nine games and Wilson's triple in the first extended his streak to eight games.

 

The Power will finish the five game series against Kannapolis Monday morning. Right hander R.J. Seidel (3-4, 5.50) will get the start for the Power and the Intimidators will counter with right hander Santo Luis (5-3, 4.01). The first pitch is scheduled for 11:05 AM (10:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Left-handed Caleb Gindl has similar splits vs. righty's and southpaws, which is encouraging for long-term starting value...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Helena 3, Missoula (Diamondbacks) 2

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

Brewers rally to beat Osprey in 9th

By CURT SYNNESS - Helena Independent Record

 

With runners on second and third and his team down by one run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Helena Brewers' Erik Komatsu had to remind himself to remain calm.

 

"I just wanted to put the ball in play and try not to do too much," said Komatsu, after the Brewers' thrilling 3-2 victory over the Missoula Osprey at Kindrick Legion Field Sunday.

 

The Brewers trailed the Osprey 2-1 going into their last at bat. Corey Kemp led off with a walk and then Chris Dennis singled. Jose Duran's sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, putting the tying run on third and the winning run on second.

 

Komatsu - a 20-year old left-handed hitter from Oxnard, Calif. - lined a ball to right field, plating Kemp and Dennis for an exciting come-from-behind win.

 

"It was a fastball knee-high," said Komatsu, describing the pitch on his game-winning hit. "I felt that I got it deep enough to give us a chance to score both runs."

 

Pinch runner Derrick Alfonso scored easily, but the play at the plate on Dennis' deciding tally was not exactly cut-and-dried. The throw from right field beat the Brewers' base runner, but was up the third base line a bit. Missoula catcher Bill Mussleman had the plate blocked, but when he spun around to make the tag as Dennis stepped around, it appeared that his elbow made contact with Dennis, instead of his glove.

 

It was a bang-bang play and the umpire quickly signaled "safe". Missoula argued the call heatedly, contending that either Musselman made the tag first, or perhaps Dennis never touched home plate. But Brewer manager Rene Gonzales disagreed.

 

"He (Dennis) was safe, and we win. The umpire got it right," said Gonzales.

 

The Brew Crew had to overcome a stellar pitching and defensive performance by the visitors for the win. Missoula's infield turned a rare triple play (in the sixth inning) and three double plays (first, second and eighth innings) to kill four Helena rallies four different times.

 

With Brewers runners on first and second, and none out in the sixth, Missoula shortstop Reynaldo Navarro speared a line drive, stepped on second for out No. 2 and fired to first to get the runner for the triple play.

 

Osprey hurlers Brett Reynolds, Josh Blake and Pedro Rodriguez combined to allow only six hits. Helena pitchers Santo Manzanillo and Efrain Nieves were only slightly less effective, giving up a total of nine hits.

 

Manzanillo started on the bump and went five innings, permitting five hits and one run, while fanning six batsmen. He struck out the side in the fifth. Nieves earned the win, working the final four frames, allowing one run and four hits. Blake took the defeat.

 

"Manzanillo works everything off of his fastball, and it had quite a bit more movement on it. And Nieves kept us in the game," the Brewers' skipper said.

 

Komatsu and Brock Kjeldgaard paced the Capital City's offense with two hits apiece, both rapping a double and a single each. The Brewers (2-4) performed some solid glove-work, twisting two double plays of their own. Catcher Corey Kemp threw out a base runner in the third stanza and centerfielder Logan Schafer made a great catch in the fourth.

 

"We didn't have much offense today, but in a one-run game, you don't need much offense," said Gonzales, who from a distance looks like former Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela.

 

Helena's faces Great Falls today at Centene Stadium at 7:05 PM (8:05 Central).

 

Helena Box Score

We'll check out the audio in a bit to see if we can determine why Cutter Dykstra left the game in the 3rd; exciting 18-year-old lefty Efrain Nieves got six ground ball outs in his four innings...

 

Helena Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Helena Pre-Game Audio Interview with LHP Evan Frederickson

Be sure you are on the KCAP audio archive of June 22nd, then to the 11:30 minute mark; discussion includes his slider and his college school odyssey to the University of San Francisco...

[molitor fan]

"We didn't have much offense today, but in a one-run game, you don't need much offense," - Rene Gonzales

 

Wow, that statement right there might have to go into my sig. Very Yogi Berra'esque.

 

Sorry, but I really think this guy has hamsters running around in his noggin.

[battlekow]

Steve Wendt was hinting at a possible injury. He also mentioned no confirmed word on Edgar Trejo but "whispers" of ACL.

Yeah, it's his ACL. He got sent back to Maryvale for surgery and rehab.