Thursday, August 27, 2009

Montgomery Biscuits Lose 9-7 To Huntsville Stars

Montgomery Biscuits[Via email from the Montgomery Biscuits' broadcaster Jon Laaser.]

The Biscuits blew a four-run lead and endured a 9-7 loss at the hands of the Huntsville Stars on Wednesday night at Joe W. Davis Stadium. A seven-run seventh inning led to the demise of the Biscuits and the series win for the Stars.

The Stars got on the board quickly against Biscuits' starter Brian Baker in the first inning. Brett Lawrie and Chuckie Caufield contributed back-to-back singles to start the ballgame, leaving runners at the corners with nobody out. Drew Anderson followed with an RBI fielder's choice bounder to second, scoring Lawrie with the game's first run and Huntsville held a 1-0 advantage.

Montgomery got even hurriedly against Stars' starter Mark Holliman in the second inning. Cody Cipriano led off with an infield-singled rolled to third base, which Taylor Green threw away attempting to get Cipriano at first base. He moved to second on the error and took third on a wild pitch. A sacrifice fly from Cody Strait tied the game, 1-1.

Holliman conceded the lead to the Biscuits in the third, as Rashad Eldridge got Montgomery started with a one-out single. Fernando Cortez then ripped a double into the left-center field alley, scoring Eldridge from first to give the Biscuits their first lead. Chris Nowak followed with an RBI single to right field to extend the lead to 3-1.

The Biscuits tacked on another run against Holliman in the fourth inning. Strait led off the inning with a double to left field and came in a batter later when Jason Bowers singled back up the middle for a 4-1 Montgomery lead.

A shaky inning defensively cost Montgomery a run off their lead in the fourth, as back-to-back errors on Bowers and Nowak put Green in position to send a sacrifice fly to right field, pulling the Stars within two runs, 4-2.

Holliman departed after four innings and didn't factor in the decision. He allowed four runs -- three earned -- on six hits, walking one and striking out four.

The Biscuits added the two runs back to their lead in the seventh off of reliever Josh Wahpepah. One of those runs was earned, as Cortez added an RBI single to his RBI double earlier in the game. The second run was unearned, as Eldridge plated due to a passed ball charged to Lucroy.

Baker began what turned out to be a disastrous seventh inning, allowing a Lawrie single and walking Caufield before departing after six-plus innings. Mike Wlodarczyk entered in relief and hit Anderson to load the bases. Jonathan Lucroy then sent a two-run single to left field. Wlodarczyk walked Green to load the bases again and a batter later walked in pinch-hitter, Shane Justis, to pull the Stars within one run. Wlodarczyk was lifted in favor of Matt Gorgen who struck out Yohannis Perez to record the second out. Freddy Parejo then stepped in and cracked a two-run single past Cortez at first base. Strait misplayed the ball in right field, initially allowing Parejo to try for second base. Strait then overthrew second base into the Huntsville bullpen, and both Justis and Parejo scored. The four-run fiasco sent the Stars to the lead, 9-6.

The Biscuits got one back off Rob Wooten in the ninth, but fell for the third straight time to drop the series. Wooten earned his 10th save of the season, as reliever Bobby Bramhall (6-7) was declared the winner. Wlodarczyk (0-4) took the loss for Montgomery.

The Biscuits enjoy an off day on Thursday before opening their final home series of the season against the Carolina Mudcats on Friday night at Riverwalk Stadium at 7:05 PM.

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