Huntsville Stars Attain Victory Over Jacksonville Suns 11-3

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – Former Florida Gators standout and Port Charlotte  native Matt LaPorta belted two homeruns while Neptune Beach resident  Mat Gamel added three hits leading the Huntsville Stars (13-8) to an  11-3 win over the Jacksonville Suns (10-11) in front of 1,702  Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium.
 
 Robert Hinton (2-0) picked up the win even after giving up the lead  with two unearned runs in the seventh inning. Yhency Brazoban (0-1)  fell in the loss for Jacksonville, giving up LaPorta’s second  homerun during the bottom of the seventh inning. David Johnson (1)  picked up the save for Huntsville, pitching two scoreless innings.
 
 The Huntsville Stars took an early lead against Suns starter James  McDonald when Matt LaPorta belted a first-pitch homerun in the  second inning, his fifth homerun of the year, opening a 1-0 lead.  Later in the inning Angel Salome singled home Cole Gillespie to  extend the lead to 2-0.
 

ADVERTISEMENT  Huntsville added a third run in the fourth inning as Michael  Brantley singled home Salome with two out for a 3-0 lead.
 
 McDonald left the game after four innings, allowing three earned  runs on seven hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
 
 On the other side Huntsville starter Steve Hammond settled in  through his first five innings of work, allowing one baserunner in  each of the first four innings on three hits and a walk. The Suns  started chipping away at the lead in the sixth inning when Juan  Gonzalez belted his fifth homerun of the season, and third in two  nights, to cut the Stars lead to 3-1.
 
 Hammond left the game after six innings after allowing one run on  five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
 
 The Suns tied the game in the seventh inning against reliever Robert  Hinton. Jamie Hoffmann led off with a walk and stole second base,  later scoring on an error by third baseman Mat Gamel to cut the lead  to 3-2. Juan Gonzalez next doubled off the right field wall to plate  Ivan DeJesus, Jr. to tie the game 3-3.
 
 After Edwardo Sierra pitched two scoreless innings, Yhency Brazoban  entered the game for the Suns in the bottom of the seventh. After  allowing two hits all year, the first two Huntsville batters singled  in front of Matt LaPorta, who belted a three-run homerun to open a  6-3 lead.
 
 Huntsville added five more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning  against Suns reliever Zach Hammes. An Alcides Escobar sacrifice fly,  Chris Errecart bases loaded walk and Cole Gillispie three-run double  ended the scoring at 11-3.

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