Ross' gem pulls Stars even in semifinals

Austin Ross sees the silver lining to losing a no-hit bid before it gets too serious, at least in the playoffs.

"I didn't have that weighing on me. We got it out of the way early," the Brewers prospect said. "It was an important enough game that in the later innings it's OK that I didn't have that extra stress."

Ross went seven innings in Huntsville's 9-0 whitewash of Chattanooga, limiting the Lookouts to a single and a walk while striking out eight. The win evened the best-of-5 Southern League semifinal series at 1-1.

"That was huge. Anytime you lose the first game and then go 2-0, that's a huge amount of momentum for them," he said. "We didn't win last night, but we had a spark around the seventh or eighth inning and guys were really positive going into today. It wasn't, 'Oh, crap, we lost the game.'"

Coming off Tommy John surgery, the 26-year-old right-hander was limited to 56 2/3 innings last season. This year, he was 9-8 with a 3.62 ERA with Class A Advanced Brevard County and the Stars. Friday's game marked his longest Southern League outing and his first scoreless start at the Double-A level.

"I felt like I improved and learned stuff every time out, and it all came together tonight," he said.

Ross retired his first seven batters and, after walking Jeremy Hazelbaker with one out in the third, had no more trouble until Daniel Mayora dropped a two-out single into shallow right field.

"A lot of people on our side think I struck him out one pitch before the hit, but that's part of the game," Ross said. "I probably got some calls that weren't necessarily strikes, too. That's just how it goes. It was a fastball in that I jammed him with, but he flared it over the second baseman's head."

Ross responded by setting down the next 10 Lookouts.

"Pitching is extremely difficult, but the principle is simple," the LSU product said. "If you can control the fastball down and locate off-speed stuff on both sides of the plate, that's all pitching is. To be able to execute it is difficult, but I was doing that."

Top Brewers prospect Tyrone Taylor entered as a defensive replacment and went 1-for-2 with an RBI, a stolen base and a run scored. Josh Fellhauer provided insurance with a sixth-inning grand slam and Nick Shaw walked twice, stole a base and scored three times.

The series shifts to Chattanooga, with Game 3 set for Saturday.

In other Southern League action:

Mobile 4, Jacksonville 3 (11 innings)

Todd Glaesmann hit a walk-off single in the 11th inning to lift the BayBears into a 1-1 tie in the other semifinal series. D-backs No. 2 prospect Braden Shipley allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five over seven innings for Mobile. Viosergy Rosa provided the Suns' offense with a three-run homer in the first. Gameday box score