Wednesday, April 30, 2008
For Immediate
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Merciless Stars hammer Biscuits, 14-6
Stars equal SL record with 13 extra-base hits
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MONTGOMERY – If the Huntsville Stars had any latent frustrations about the results of the 2007 Southern League Championship Series, they took them out on the Montogmery Biscuits at Riverwalk Stadium Wednesday night.
In the first meeting between the two teams since Montgomery won Gave Five of the series on September 16, 2007, Huntsville tied a Southern League record by pounding out 13 extra-base hits in a 14-6 win. They are the first team in nearly 23 years to tally that many.
The Stars' attack featured five home runs, a triple, seven doubles and just two singles.
After a second-inning Michael Bell home run gave Huntsville a 2-0 lead, the Biscuits struck back to establish a temporary lead with three runs in the bottom of the inning. A walk, a hit batsman and a passed ball scored one, and a two-run homer by Ronnie Merrill plated two more. But the lead was buried in a torrent by the league's top-hitting and top-scoring team.
Bell singled to score Cole Gillespie in the fourth, and then ran Montgomery starter Jake McGee from the game in the following inning. With two outs, Mat Gamel walked, Matt LaPorta crushed a three-run homer and Chris Errecart and Cole Gillespie hit back-to-back doubles. McGee (4.2 IP, 8 H, 7 ER) had his worst start of the year.
The Stars had more in store for Montgomery's bullpen. LaPorta cracked a seventh-inning RBI double against Jino Gonzalez and Gillespie followed in the same inning with a two-run homer off of Brock Till. It was Gillespie's fourth extra-base hit, adding on to the three doubles he had already hit.
Gamel added two more solo homers in the eighth against Jeremy Flanagan and in the ninth against Wade Townsend. The latter tied the record, first set by the Charlotte Hornet on April 24, 1971 and equaled by the Charlotte O's on August 20, 1985.
The Biscuits scored two in the ninth on a double by Sergio Pedroza and a sacrifice fly by Erold Andrus.
The Biscuits equaled an all-time low by losing their seventh straight home game. They also finished their worst April in club history at 9-17.
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