Friday, July 15, 2005

L 5-4

Huntsville, AL --- Kennard Bibbs slid across home plate with the winning run in the last of the 9th as Huntsville ascended to sole possession of first place in the North with a 5-4 victory over Carolina at Davis Stadium on Friday night.

Bibbs had reached on a one-out single against Ross Wolf (L, 5-3), advancing to second on a single by Vinny Rottino and third on an infield single by Brad Nelson.  Bibbs hand-leading slide narrowly beat first baseman Chris Bass' throw off of a bouncer by Brandon Gemoll for the game winner.

Huntsville (12-9) took a one game lead in the division. 

The Stars had taken a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning on a bases loaded single by John Vanden Berg, however Carolina (10-9) tied the game with two runs in the ninth on a double by Jeremy Hermida and a grounder by Jason Hill.

Yorman Bazardo pitched seven innings, allowing two runs while hitting a two-run homer in the second inning, his first as a pro.

Huntsville tied the game against Bazardo with single runs in the third and fourth.

Ray Aguilar (1-0, 1.67) starts the series' middle game on Saturday night against Ty Taubenheim (0-0, 1.50) at 8:05 PM ET.

CAROLINA            0 2 0   0 0 0   0 0 2   ---   4   10   0   10

HUNTSVILLE        0 0 1   1 0 0   0 2 1   ---   5    13   0   11

WP - Gamble (2-0)

LP - Wolf (5-3)

S - None.

HR - Bazardo (1)

Time:  2:50

Att:  5,657

Notes:  Carolina leads the season series with Huntsville 7-5 with two remaining... RF Jeremy Hermida won the Southern League all-star game MVP with a three-hit, four-RBI performance on Wednesday night.... C Jason Hill's all-star nod was the fourth of his career... Bazardo's home run in the second inning against Huntsville's Glenn Woolard represented the second hit by a Mudcat pitcher this season, following Luke Lockwood's home run against Chattanooga.  In club history, 13 different Mudcat pitchers have hit home runs, but no pitcher has ever hit two... Huntsville LHP Dana Eveland, tied for the league lead with 10 victories, was called to the majors leagues before Friday's game with Carolina.  He will work from the Brewers' bullpen.  Eveland was scheduled to start Sunday's finale with the Mudcats...  Should West Tenn win the second half, Carolina leads the wild-card race by 9 1/2 over Huntsville.  The best overall record of the remaining four clubs would face West Tenn in the semifinals.