Wednesday, May 25, 2005

W 4-3

Zebulon, NC --- Jeremy Hermida singled in two runs in the seventh inning to give Carolina a 4-3 victory over the Huntsville Stars on Wednesday night at Five County Stadium.   Hermida's single came on a 2-1 pitch from Dana Eveland (L, 3-4) just after a wild pitch moved the leading runs to second and third.  Hermida has driven in 31 runs on the season, including five in the past two games.  

The Mudcats (29-16) drew to within 3 1/2 of first place West Tenn, thanks to a 2-0 Mobile win over the Diamond Jaxx in the afternoon.  

Trailing 1-0 in the second, Chris Bass doubled home Michael Tucker to tie the game, then Bass scored on a two-out error against shortstop Enrique Cruz for a 2-1 lead.   After Cruz homered against starting pitcher Luke Lockwood to tie the game in the fourth, the Stars (20-26) went ahead 3-2 on a single by Tony Gwynn in the fifth against reliever Ryan Baker.   

Kevin Cave (W, 1-1) earned the victory on his 25th birthday with two perfect innings.  Jerrod Fuell (S, 3) saved his third game of the season, pitching around an error and two walks in the ninth.  Fuell fanned Gwynn for the second out, then retired Vinny Rottino on a grounder to third to end the game.  

Yorman Bazardo (4-2, 3.58) starts the series and homestand finale Thursday night against Huntsville's Dennis Sarfate (3-2, 3.18) at 7:15 PM ET.  

HUNTSVILLE        0 1 0   1 1 0   0 0 0   ---   3   7   1   9

CAROLINA             0 2 0   0 0 0   2 0 x   ---   4   9   1   8  

WP - Cave (1-1)

LP - Eveland (3-4)

S - Fuell (3)  

HR - Cruz (5)  

Time:  2:45

Att:  1,688