Stars Survive, Top BayBears 4-3
HUNTSVILLE, AL - The Mobile BayBears dropped the opener of a five game series with the Huntsville Stars by a final score of 4-3 on Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium.
The BayBears rallied with two outs in the top of the 9th, putting men on second and third, but David Goforth was able to put the finishing touches on a two inning save by striking out Garrett Weber to end it.
Huntsville opened the scoring with two runs in the bottom of the 3rd, both coming with two outs off BayBears starter Bradin Hagens. Hagens hit a man to start the Stars two-out rally, and the first run of the night came in when a throw from second was mishandled by BayBears first baseman Nick Evans. Rene Tossoni singled into left to make it 2-0, but Mobile would answer in the top of the 5th.
Keon Broxton cut the lead in half with his 7th home run of the season - and first in 48 games - and a deep fly ball three batters later would put the BayBears in the lead. Hagens drew a two out walk from Stars starter Drew Gagnon, and lead-off man Ender Inciarte followed with a two-run home run that wrapped around the foul pole in right. The controversial home run call led to the ejection of Stars right-fielder Rene Tossoni, and the BayBears carried their 3-2 lead into the 7th.
That's when the good news ended for Mobile. With two outs and two on in the bottom of the 7th, Stars third baseman Mike Walker hit a sinking line drive to center that dipped under the glove of Keon Broxton, and allowed the game-tying and game-winning runs to score.
Despite the late rally, the BayBears fall to 3 ½ games behind the Jacksonville Suns in the 2nd half South division standings.
Hagens was denied his 11th victory despite a solid performance in which he allowed just two runs on five hits in five innings. He finished with a season high seven strikeouts.
Game two of the five game series will get underway at 6:43 CT on Wednesday night, with Archie Bradley (8-5, 2.10) on the mound for Mobile opposite Andy Moye (5-12, 4.43) for Huntsville.