After knocking Birmingham out of first place in the West, Tennessee moved on to a four game series with the new western division leader, the Huntsville Stars. The clubs split two games each.
The Stars recorded their league high 12th shutout and third straight in a 6-0 win over Tennessee Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium. Huntsville blanked West Tenn in a double-header sweep Sunday and had completed 27 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings.
Nick Stocks (8-5) saw his four game win streak come to an end on a night when the Smokies left 7 men stranded.
Pedro Liriano (6-10) snapped a personal three game losing streak with six shutout innings while Matt Childers scattered two hits over the final three innings for his 8th save.
On Wednesday a wild ninth kept the Smokies on top. Rhett Parrott allowed one run over six innings and struck out seven in leading Tennessee to a 5-4 win over Huntsville. John Novinsky squelched a three-run Stars rally in the ninth for his first Double A save.
Huntsville used one out walks to Kade Johnson and Alejandro Machado to ignite a 9th inning rally against Mike Lyons, the Southern League’s save leader. Dave Krynzel doubled down the first base line to score Johnson, while Machado was stopped at third when Jacobsen received the relay. Kyrnzel rounded the bag at second, and in an effort to throw behind the runner Jacobsen, a former Star, instead threw the ball into left field scoring both Krynzel and Machado. John Novinsky struck out Brandon Gemoll to pick up the save.
Papo Bolivar opened the second inning with a single and ended the Stars’ 28 1/3 scoreless innings streak when he scored on a ground out by Caonabo Cosme. Scott Krause followed Bolivar with a double and scored on a wild pitch by starter Ben Hendrickson (L, 4-3).
Tennessee added a run in the fourth when Bolivar scored on an RBI fielder’s choice by Kevan Burns. Bucky Jacobsen’s fifth inning sacrifice scored Skip Schumaker to give Tennessee a 4-0 lead. The Smokies final run came in the ninth against reliever Ken Ray. Dan Moyland led off with a triple into the right field corner and scored on a sacrifice fly by Schumaker.
Parrott worked his way out of trouble in the sixth inning when Corey Hart singled with one out. Parrott stayed in to face Mike Kremblas, and struck out the former Smoky to leave the bases loaded.
Parrott was promoted to AAA Memphis after the game and pitched his first game Monday night.
Al Benjamin made amends for a costly fourth inning error with a two-run home run in the fifth to lead Tennessee to an 8-2 win over Huntsville Thursday night. Benjamin’s home run against Matt Parker (L, 6-5) gave the Smokies a 4-2 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Benjamin’s dropped fly ball with two outs in the fourth inning allowed Huntsville to tie the game at two. Neither run earned against Tennessee starter Chris Narveson (W, 3-0).
Benjamin made up for the error when he followed a Dan Moylan walk with his third home run of the season. The Smokies offense didn’t let up there. Bucky Jacobsen led off the fifth with his league leading 21st home run to give Tennessee a 5-2 lead. John Nelson drove home Scott Krause with a seventh inning single, while Benjamin and Kevin Sprague each picked up 8th inning RBI’s.
Huntsville scored five runs both the fourth and eighth innings as part of an 11-5 win over Tennessee Friday night at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars (57-43, 17-15) earned a series split with the win.

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