Jim Goulart

Final: Huntsville 8, @Montgomery 4 RAMIREZ HOMERS AGAIN IN STARS VICTORY Montgomery, AL - Huntsville Stars 1B Nick Ramirez homered for the fourth time in his last five games leading the Stars to an 8-4 win Wednesday morning over the Montgomery Biscuits at Riverwalk Stadium. The Stars produced thirteen hits and had a season high seven doubles in their win. The Stars took a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning against Biscuit starter Victor Mateo(3-3). Nick Shaw led off the game with a double. He later scored on a Shawn Zarraga sacrifice fly. Jason Rogers also doubled home Ramirez for the early Stars lead. Tyler Cravy improved to 4-1 as the Huntsville starter struck out a season-high seven batters. The only runs he allowed came in the first inning. Taylor Motter scored on a balk issued by Cravy and Richie Shaffer tied it on his RBI triple. Those were the only two runs Cravy allowed in his five innings on the mound. The Stars broke the 2-2 tie in the third inning. Ramirez and Rogers both produced RBI doubles giving the Stars a 4-2 lead. Mitch Haniger extended the Stars lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning. Haniger lined an RBI single to left scoring Zarraga. Ramirez made the score 7-2 in the sixth after he hit a two-run homer to right-centerfield. Ramirez now leads the Southern League with his six home runs. Montgomery scored their final runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. Motter hit a two-run homer against Stars reliever Kevin Shackelford. The Stars scored their final run in the ninth on a Kentrail Davis sacrifice fly scoring Zarraga. The Stars improved to 16-10 and share the best record in the Southern League with Montgomery. The Stars also remain in first place in the Southern League North standings. Shaw and Ramirez each had three hits for the Stars. Zarraga and Rogers each had two hits apiece for Huntsville. The Stars continue their five-game series with a doubleheader on Thursday. Both games will be seven inning contests with a thirty minute break in between games. RHP Drew Gagnon (2-1, 3.03) will start Game One for Huntsville. Montgomery will send RHP Dylan Floro (2-1, 6.40) to the mound. The games can be heard starting at 6:00 PM CT with Steve Jarnicki on 92.9 FM, 1450 AM, and wtkiradio.com. Huntsville Box Score Fun team to follow thus far. RHP Tyler Cravy's prospect status took a big jump in 2013, and he continues to post solid peripherals, limiting hits and walks, now with 25 K's in 24.1 IP. Small 2014 sample, but if the WHIP remains low and there's a continued uptick in K rate, the 24-year-old (25 this July) 17th round 2009 JUCO pick and 2013 Arizona Fall League participant will climb even further up the front office radar screen. RHP Tommy Toledo made his AA debut -- Montgomery Bottom of the 9th Pitching Change: Tommy Toledo replaces Kevin Shackelford. Jake Hager called out on strikes. Luke Maile grounds out, second baseman Greg Hopkins to first baseman Nick Ramirez. Jeff Malm doubles (2) on a sharp fly ball to right fielder Mitch Haniger. Joey Rickard grounds out, shortstop Nick Shaw to first baseman Nick Ramirez. In between Cravy and Toledo, slender RHP Casey Medlen tossed two scoreless (and his peripherals this April are also far ahead of his 2013 in this, his repeat AA season), and RHP Kevin Shackelford was scored upon for the first time in four outings (1st HR allowed in 15 innings, four allowed in 61.1 innings in 2013). But the bats were the real story here. Nick Ramirez must be one strong dude, 19 HR's at Brevard County last year, but a longball drought to end his 2013. Nice to see the early weeks agree with him again from a power standpoint, just need to extend that through the summer. My goodness, Shawn Zarraga - OBP was .558 coming in to the game, and he managed to lift it by doubling twice and walking. The two doubles were only his 2nd and 3rd extra-base hits among his 22 knocks, so that's great to see today. Seven doubles among the Stars' 13 hits, three walks, one HBP -- this squad is having some fun. The only error was Jason Rogers' 3rd of the young season at third base, in the 8th, just prior to the Shackelford-surrendered home run. As noted in Steve's game summary, Rogers had a nice day at the plate as well. Huntsville Game Log

As was planned, Logan Schafer's rehab stint has been transferred from Brevard County to Nashville. Schafer still set to be activated in Cincinnati for Saturday.

Nashville: AUDIO: Eugenio Velez, who leads league in hitting and Sounds in RBI's, slaps RBI Single VIDEO: Hunter Morris knocks in two runs with a double in Nashville's 9-4 loss to New Orleans

Some of the Huntsville notes -- TODAY’S GAME: Is game 1 of a 5-game series vs Brady William’s Montgomery Biscuits, the Double-A Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. This is the first of fifteen games between the Stars and Biscuits. The Stars were 5-5 against the Biscuits last year. With the series with Montgomery, 25 out of the first 30 games are against teams from the Southern League South. After playing National League clubs exclusively through the first 25 games, the DH will finally be applied to the Stars lineup against Montgomery. Only two other teams out of the ten in the league are American League teams (Birmingham-White Sox and Jackson-Seattle). HELLO AGAIN MONTGOMERY: Last season, the Stars and Biscuits played ten games against each other with the Stars going 5-5 against Montgomery. This season, these two teams play three series (two in Montgomery and one in Huntsville). Some of the returning players for the Stars and their performances against Montgomery last year: Kentrail Davis batted .344 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Brock Kjeldgaard hit .265 2 HR, 6 RBI against Biscuits pitching. Jason Rogers hit .216 3 HR, 9 RBI. Nick Shaw hit .212 with 0 HR, 6 RBI against the Biscuits. Shea Vucinich hit .154 while Shawn Zarraga hit .200 with 3 RBI. The Stars as a team hit .247 with 10 home runs in 10 games against the Biscuits, while Montgomery batted .260 off the Stars. SUPRISING START: With their 15 wins already in 2014, the Stars are ahead of where they were this time last year. The Stars did not win their 15th game of last season until May 14th. This year they won their 15th on April 26th. FIRST PLACE: The Stars have been in sole possession of first place in the Southern League North standings since April 6th. There has been only two days all season that the Stars haven’t been in first place. Overall, they have spent 23 days in first place by themselves. ROAD WARRIORS: Entering today, the Stars have the best road record in the Southern League. At 10-5 away from Huntsville, the Stars offense is hitting .235 on the road compared to just .214 at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars pitchers have performed much better on the road too. The road team ERA is 1.91 compared to 4.12 at home.

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Montgomery, AL Clearwater, FL Grand Chute, WI (Appleton)

Sortable individual stat pages: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Southern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Nashville Media Notes - it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Roster" banner on the Sounds' site. Brevard County Media Notes - again, it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Manatees' site. Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Game One Nashville Game Two Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin Game One Wisconsin Game Two MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

So definitely a unique schedule of games on this Wednesday. You can follow the Stars and Manatees before the Brewers afternoon game in St. Louis. Then starting in mid-to-late afternoon, it's wall-to-wall twinbill action for the Sounds and Timber Rattlers. A diehard fan could pull a near 12-hour shift today . *** That combo of starters for Wisconsin is subject to change - not quite sure how the staff is going to handle that coming off consecutive postponements.

Wednesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP's Mike Fiers and Alfredo Figaro in a doubleheader at home vs. New Orleans (Marlins), 3:45 PM pre-game, 4:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Tyler Cravy at Montgomery (Rays), 10:20 AM pre-game, 10:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link Steve Jarnicki is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars - welcome aboard! Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveJarnicki. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV - It appears seven of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games (not the Stars). Montgomery does host MiLB.TV broadcasts - be among those hoping Steve's audio link synchs up nicely with your MiLB.TV investment. ********** Brevard County: RHP Tyler Wagner at Clearwater (Phillies), 11:30 AM pre-game, 12:00 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the proper link based on listed schedule Dave Walkovic returns as the play-by-play voice of the 'Tees; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed (or not at all), we'll let you know that. No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Victor Diaz and LHP Anthony Banda in a doubleheader at home vs. Burlington (Angels), 4:45 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. For the $49.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from seven Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (9) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (30) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

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Not sure what you mean, there is no necessity at this time to add anyone to the 40-man roster unless there is a player in the minor leagues not on the 40-man roster who is needed in Milwaukee (let's say, Maldonado gets hurt and the Brewers need to bring up Robinzon Diaz or Lucas May). There is an extensive 40-man roster discussion thread on the Major League Forum here.

So basically, a minimum of 28 innings of baseball within a 24-hour period...yikes! How's your voice, Chris?!

Details from the Wisconsin staff -- Rain and a wet field postpone Rattlers and Bees Tuesday doubleheader Twinbills now set for Wednesday at 5:05 PM and Thursday at 12:05 PM

From the Stars -- Huntsville game tonight at Montgomery postponed due to severe storms expected again this afternoon and evening. Teams will play a DH on Thursday.

AUDIO via Jeff Hem's blog -- "Today’s interview is our weekly “Monday” chat with Sounds manager Rick Sweet, who discusses the team’s 5-3 road trip through Omaha and Oklahoma City, the status of the starting rotation with Wednesday’s doubleheader now on the schedule and the addition of reliever Jeremy Jeffress, who was added to the roster this morning."

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Montgomery, AL Clearwater, FL Grand Chute, WI (Appleton)

Sortable individual stat pages: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Southern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

The Nashville Media Notes are already out, and we learn RHP Alfredo Figaro will make the spot start in the Sounds' Wednesday doubleheader.

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Brevard County Media Notes - again, it's a unique link each day, but look for it under the "Multimedia" banner on the Manatees' site. Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin Game One Wisconsin Game Two MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers