Link Report for Sunday 5/28: Late addition, quotes from W.V.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...amp;coll=1

 

Stars set dubious club mark

Huntsville drops 10th straight in 6-2 loss to West Tenn

By SKIP VAUGHN

For The Huntsville Times, skipv@htimes.com

 

Watching television in his office before Sunday's game against West Tenn, Huntsville Stars manager Don Money saw Barry Bonds hit his 715th career homer.

 

It seemed appropriate that the subject of hitting should come up.

 

The Stars haven't been doing much of that lately. They entered Sunday's game with a team batting average of .223.

 

"(We need to) swing the bats, get some more hits," Money said of the key to snapping a nine-game losing streak. "When we get the opportunities, (we need to) get some runs in.

 

"It's not like we haven't been getting chances, we just can't get the big hits when we really need them."

 

The Stars squandered a 2-0 lead and lost 6-2 to West Tenn before an announced crowd of 1,555 at Joe Davis Stadium for their 10th straight loss, a franchise record.

 

The Diamond Jaxx scored all six of their runs in the eighth.

 

"We played well up until the eighth inning," Money said.

 

Stars starter Corey Thurman pitched six shutout innings and struck out 11. He gave up four hits and two walks before leaving after reaching his pitch limit.

 

"It was just an outstanding job by him," Huntsville pitching coach Rich Sauveur said.

 

But the Stars were outhit 9-6 and their bullpen struggled late.

 

"We can't expect to win a game with six hits," Stars hitting coach Sandy Guerrero said.

 

"And three of those were by one guy (Greg Sain)."

 

Huntsville (20-30) opened the scoring in the fourth when Sain singled up the middle off West Tenn's J.R. Mathes, bringing home Steve Moss from second. Moss had walked with one out and advanced to second when Drew Anderson was hit by a pitch.

 

The Stars went up 2-0 when Sain doubled with two outs in the sixth and scored on Adam Heether's single.

 

West Tenn (29-22) scored six runs in the eighth against the Stars bullpen. Chris Walker got a leadoff triple off Stephen Bray and scored on Eric Patterson's single. Patterson advanced to third on Bray's errant pickoff throw to first and scored on Nic Jackson's hit.

 

After a walk to Brandon Sing, Matt Smith entered. After a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk, he allowed a grand slam to Miguel Negron.

 

Diamond Jaxx reliever Paul Schappert (3-0) got the win and Bray (4-2) took the loss.

 

"We've been struggling swinging the bats for the last 10 games," West Tenn manager Pat Listach said.

 

Huntsville second baseman Callix Crabbe, who had one hit, expects his team to persevere.

 

"We've just got to keep battling," Crabbe said. "Tomorrow's another day."

[Mass Haas]

Daytona Cubs site:

 

Still Searching

Gallardo leads the way, Manatees improve to 6-0 verses Cubs

by: Daytona Cubs Administration

 

[VIERA, FL] The Daytona Cubs (25-25) still have not found an answer to the Brevard County Manatees (26-23). A night after losing a seven-run lead and falling 10-9 in 12 innings, the Cubs were shutout by the Manatees 4-0 at Space Coast Stadium.

 

Daytona starter Carlos Perez (0-2) managed to escape trouble early in the ballgame, but was not so lucky in the bottom of the fourth. Ryan Braun and C.J. Medlin each had singles to lead off the inning. Carlos Corporan dropped down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third, and Josh Murray hit a sacrifice fly to score Braun with the first run of the game that put Brevard County up 1-0. The Manatees tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth. Charlie Fermaint hit a one-out home run to left, and Steve Sollman, Brendan Katin, and Braun had back-to-back-to-back base hits with two outs to increase the lead to 3-0. Sollman added an RBI single in the seventh to complete the scoring.

 

The run support was more than enough for Manatee starter Yovani Gallardo (5-3) who combined with reliever Robert Hinton on a six-hit shutout. Gallardo went seven and two-thirds innings striking out ten Daytona Cub batters. He has allowed just one run in 13 and two-thirds innings pitched in two starts against Daytona this season. The Cubs fell a game-and-a-half back of the Manatees with the loss and three-and-a-half back of the St. Lucie Mets for the division lead after St. Lucie?s 3-2 extra-inning win over the Vero Beach Dodgers.

 

Daytona will be off for Memorial Day, but will resume its series with Brevard County on Tuesday. Justin Berg (2-4) will take the mound for the Cubs hoping to get them back into the win column. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM (6:00 Central) from Space Coast Stadium.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/news/Sp...006052916/

 

Salome gets hero's welcome after game-winning homer

Jacob Messer

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

Ready to begin their postgame meeting, his coaches and teammates had been waiting about 15 minutes when Angel Salome finally sprinted into the clubhouse Sunday.

 

The wait would have been longer if they hadn't sent strength coach Tom Reynolds to hurry him off the field.

 

In his defense, they should forgive Salome for his punctuality -- or lack thereof. He had autographs to sign and congratulations to accept after his walk-off double capped a six-run comeback in the West Virginia Power's 7-6 win over the Lakewood BlueClaws.

 

"There he is," Reynolds said as Salome entered the room. "The hero."

 

Indeed, Salome, the designated hitter with Superman strength and Popeye arms, saved the day for the Power.

 

"I'm not a hero," Salome said, "but I did something good for the team today."

 

It was the perfect situation for the perfect player.

 

Salome was hitless in his first four at-bats against the BlueClaws (26-23), including a crucial one in the bottom of the eighth inning.

 

The Power (25-23) trailed by three runs and had two runners in scoring position with no outs in that frame, but reliever Michael Zagurski struck out Salome.

 

The Power scored two runs before his strikeout and added another one after it to pull within two runs, 6-4, but Salome believed he cost his team a chance to win the game and he didn't want to do it again.

 

Needless to say, that at-bat was on his mind when Salome stepped to the plate in the ninth.

 

The Power trailed by two runs and had the bases loaded with one out. This time, however, Salome smacked closer Patrick Overholt's 2-1 delivery -- a fastball down the middle -- over centerfielder Gregory Golson's head.

 

"I was ready for that," Salome said. "I wanted to be in that situation. I wanted to take care of the team. I just tried to do my best but not too much. I knew we only needed two runs to tie the game. I was trying to drive the ball the other way. Thank God, that's what I did. I thought the ball was gone, to be honest with you."

 

It wasn't a homer, but it was good enough.

 

Nate Yoho and Darren Ford easily scored from third and second, respectively.

 

Everyone in Appalachian Power Park, where a crowd of 2,771 fans watched the South Atlantic League game, knew that would happen. The only question was whether Michael Brantley would score from first.

 

"When I hit second, I knew I had to turn it on because the outfielder was right next to the ball," Brantley said. "When I came around third, I had about 15 of my teammates running out of the dugout and yelling, ?Get down!' and ?Slide!' There was a lot of emotion. It was awesome."

 

With most of his teammates waiting outside of the home dugout, Brantley slid under catcher Aaron Cheesman's tag to complete the Power's come-from-behind victory.

 

Manager Mike Guerrero sprinted down the third-base line after he waved Brantley around the bag. The 38-year-old coach almost beat the 19-year-old player to the plate.

 

"Hey," Guerrero said with a smile, "I used to run pretty good."

 

Guerrero, who hopped in the air and pumped his arms after the umpire signaled safe, said the decision to send Brantley was an easy one.

 

"That was the opportunity we needed, and we took advantage of it," Guerrero said. "I was thinking, ?I'm not going to wait for another clutch hit when we have a chance to win it right now.' When I saw that ball, I was thinking, ?For sure we have to score from first base.' I'm glad we had the speed on the bases at that time."

 

The victory over the BlueClaws was an important one for the Power -- or at least as important as a win can be at this point in the season. West Virginia had lost four of its past five games, including three in its four-game series at Kannapolis.

 

"This is a great feeling," Brantley said, "and we need it right now."

 

West Virginia and Lakewood continue their series tonight at 7:05. The Power will start right-hander Kevin Roberts (2-6, 4.66), while the BlueClaws will counter with left-hander Josh Outman (1-4, 3.67).