Jim Goulart

Video from Wednesday's Sounds game: Stephen Parker homers in the fourth inning of a 6-2 loss to Oklahoma City *** Nashville Thursday night audio: Hunter Morris Lead-Off Triple Parker Drives In Morris For Lead

Stars Lose Rain-Shortened Series Opener With BayBears By Alex Cohen / Huntsville Stars In a scheduled doubleheader due to a rainout on Thursday, the Huntsville Stars only got into the sixth inning of their first game with the Mobile BayBears on Friday. In the midst of torrential downpours, the Stars lost a 3-1 in a rain-shortened affair at Hank Aaron Stadium. Despite the rain, the game featured a premiere starting pitching matchup that did not disappoint. For the BayBears, righty Archie Bradley earned the win in his Double-A debut. The Diamondbacks second ranked prospect gave up just one run on four hits through six innings while striking out six batters in the process. The only blemish on the night for the 24th overall prospect in minor league baseball was a second-inning RBI double by Stars catcher Robinzon Diaz. Right fielder Kentrail Davis, center fielder Rene Tosoni and second baseman Nick Shaw collected the only other hits for Huntsville. Unfortunately for the Stars, righty Jimmy Nelson was tabbed with his first loss of the year. The 23-year-old righty fell to 3-1 on the season after giving up three runs and five hits over 5.1 innings of work. After allowing the first two batters of his outing reach base via a walk and a single, Nelson gave up a pair of RBI groundouts to BayBears second baseman Mike Freeman and first baseman Jon Griffin to give Mobile a 2-0 advantage and the lead for good in the first. Mobile center fielder Ender Inciarte hit a solo homer to leadoff the third inning against Nelson for the final run of the game. With the loss, Nelson also gave up more than two earned runs in a ballgame for only the first time this season (six starts). For the second day in a row, the Stars and BayBears will attempt to play a doubleheader at Hank Aaron Stadium on Friday. Huntsville will send RHP Ariel Pena (1-2, 4.84 ERA) to the bump to square off against Mobile RHP Mobile Bolsinger (0-0, 2.53 ERA). Game two will feature Stars LHP Alan Williams (0-2, 1.86 ERA) and BayBears LHP David Holmberg (0-0, 2.40 ERA). First pitch for game one is at 5:05 PM.

Quite the photo gallery from the Huntsville game

Jose Prince? Hadn't hear that story before...

Via Jeff Hem's blog -- Audio from Bricktown — “Hear It from (Kyle) Heckathorn” Tonight’s interview is with reliever Kyle Heckathorn, who discusses his season so far, the transition from starter to full-time reliever, his expectations for his first year at Triple-A, growing up as a Braves fan in Georgia (he now resides in Ooltewah, TN) and the bullpen’s guitar case that carries top-secret contents for the relievers from city to city.

Kentrail Davis goes from Theodore's Boys and Girls Club to MLB prospect Mark Inabinett, al.com MOBILE, Alabama - Kentrail Davis began playing baseball at the Boys and Girls Club in Theodore, a start that led him to the Huntsville Stars, who open a five-game Southern League series at Hank Aaron Stadium against the Mobile BayBears today. "I started out with them when I was probably 5 or 6," Davis recalled of his baseball beginnings. "And ever since then, I've been playing baseball. "I started out at the Boys and Girls Club, and then I played over at Boykin Park when I was probably around 11 and 12, and then I went over to TAA (Theodore Athletic Association)." After park ball, Davis starred at Theodore High School. "I would say my best moment, probably my best game ever, was in high school," Davis said. "I went back-to-back-to-back. I had three home runs and a triple in one game. That was a good feeling. That was something I'll never forget." The BayBears and Stars are scheduled to play a doubleheader at 5:05 p.m. today at The Hank, then square off at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:05 p.m. Sunday. "When I come back, it's a lot of memories," Davis said while standing in the Aaron Stadium outfield on Thursday afternoon. "When I come here, it reminds me where I come from and how far I've come and how much I've accomplished so far. I can remember coming to this stadium for the Hank Aaron tournament in high school, and you're like, 'Oh, man. We get to play on this nice field.' "Looking back at it, I've come so far and I'm so close to my final goal, and it's great to look back at it and see how much fun it was and the things I've come through to be here." The Stars visit to Mobile comes with perks for the 24-year-old Davis. "It's home," he said. "Home is home. I get to go home and see my family and sleep in my own bed. Being home is always a good feeling, and to come here and play in front of my friends and family is just a great time." This won't be the first time that Davis has come to Mobile with the Stars. The left-handed hitter left Tennessee after two years when the Milwaukee Brewers used a first-round draft pick on him. Davis split his initial pro year between the Midwest and Florida State leagues, then spent 2011 with the Brevard County Manatees of the FSL. Last season at Huntsville, he hit .274 with 22 doubles, seven triples, seven home runs and 19 stolen bases. Davis played in 28 spring-training games with the Brewers this year. He hit .262 with six home runs, 16 RBIs and 13 stolen bases in 28 games. But he was returned to Double-A Huntsville to play right field for the Stars to begin this season. "You always want to go up," Davis said. "But like my manager (Darnell Coles) here told me: 'You had a good season last year. This is not the first time things like this have happened.' They just felt like there were some things I could come back here and work on. "The one thing I want to do is to use this as motivation to get out of here. Not press about it. There was a little disappointment at first, but I sat back on it. I'm just going to out there and play. It's out of my hands. If I prove that I'm ready to go up, they'll move me up." Sometimes, Davis needs to remember baseball at the Boys and Girls Club when the business side of the pro game starts to become overwhelming. "Baseball is a job, but at the same time it's a game, too," Davis said. "The reason I started playing baseball was because it was fun. Sometimes I do have to think back to that and say, 'Hey, this is a game. Try not to take it so serious where you really don't like it anymore.' I just try to go back to that. "The season is long and you want to reach that goal so bad that you can get caught up in everything and you start pressing a little bit. I have to check myself every now and then and say, 'Hey, man: Just relax and calm down.'" After his strong showing in spring training, Davis enters the series against the BayBears with a .283 batting average, 15 runs, five doubles, two homers and five stolen bases in 25 games. "It was fun, but spring training is spring training," he said. "You're pretty much just getting ready for the season. I had a chance to go to big league camp this year for the first time, and it was great. I learned a lot. I got to be around a big league manager and a big league coaching staff and just got to see how the big leaguers do things. I was fortunate enough to be over there and just learn a lot from those guys. I feel like it helped me a lot, and I've used some of those things that I learned in spring training in this season so far." Kentrail Davis is greeted by his Theodore teammates with low fives after hitting a home run against visiting Fairhope in a high school baseball game won by the Bobcats 14-7 on April 3, 2007. (Press-Register file) http://media.al.com/sports_impact/photo/kentrail-davis-theodorejpg-f59ac3a50465047c.jpg

Catcher / utility man Joey Paciorek moves down to Huntsville from Nashville, with Khris Davis now taking the Nashville roster spot. Huntsville's spot was opened when catcher Adam Weisenburger landed on the DL with an undisclosed injury. Weisenburger's season had been off to a fantastic start (stats).

Via Wisconsin's Media Notes: ROSTER MOVES: The Milwaukee Brewers have announced that pitcher Jono Armold (stats) has been transferred to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. He is active for tonight’s game. Reliever Martin Viramontes has been placed on the disabled list. *** Armold is a 24-year-old who pitched well in rookie ball last year, so this was a needed bump from extended spring training for him. Arnold was drafted in the 30th round last season, two rounds after Martin Viramontes (stats).

Via the Brewers' Player Development Twitter feed: Brewers name 2B Scooter Gennett & RHP Jimmy Nelson the April player & pitcher of the month. Congrats to both!

Online article / video report / interview: Timber Rattlers Pitcher Austin Blaski Feeling at Home at Fox Cities Stadium

Well, here's your office audio for the afternoon and beyond. As they promised, Brevard's Dave and Andy have now posted their audio pre-game interviews from thus far in 2013, and we should see them post consistently now. There are 15 online now, note the date on each to get perspective as to when they were conducted. We've said it before, but fans are going to learn more from little snippets within these interviews than they do from most newspaper article features. We're lucky that Nashville, Helena and now Brevard post these online for us. Great job, guys. Brevard Multimedia Link - Audio Archives (Game Highlights and Pre-Game Interviews)

Happy 26th birthday, Michael Olmsted; Happy 21st birthday, Yadiel Rivera!

The Voice of the Sounds, Jeff Hem, was on Nashville radio this AM, and you'll find that interview among those archived at this link.

Weather.com: Oklahoma City Mobile Dunedin Lansing

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

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.

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

Initially the Manatees were going to see Ricky Romero again tonight, but Blubird Banter tells us why that's been pushed back by a day, and includes a really bad David Goforth pun.

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

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: LHP Zach Kroenke at Oklahoma City (Astros), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime 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 $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP's Jimmy Nelson and Ariel Pena in a doubleheader at Mobile (Diamondbacks), 4:50 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule. ********** Brevard County: RHP Brooks Hall at Dunedin (Blue Jays), 5:30 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Brevard County feed from the MiLB main audio page Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; 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, we'll let you know that. ********** Wisconsin: LHP Mike Strong and RHP Tyler Wagner in a doubleheader at Lansing (Blue Jays), 3:45 PM pre-game, 4:05 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. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: 32 of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has seventeen games scheduled and WACY-TV My NEW32 plans to show fifteen games. We'll let you know when, but won't be providing day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check for proper channel and time planning (scroll to the bottom of this link).

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In his 568th professional game, Jeff Bianchi plays in the outfield for the first time tonight. If Josh Prince is optioned this week, Bianchi could then become the 5th "emergency" outfielder in Milwaukee (Braun, Gomez, Aoki, Schafer).

Nashville Video from Tuesday: Caleb Gindl hits a solo homer in the ninth inning of the Sounds' 4-2 loss to Oklahoma City

Gagnon says he gained an advantage from watching Bradenton the last two days. "I was in the stands the last two games, and I watched what the hitters did. I learned what they could do and what they can't." This makes what Jimmy Nelson's doing with the Stars all the more impressive. Because every Southern League series is a five-gamer, Nelson always leads off the series and hasn't had an opportunity to study opposing teams first-hand.

STARS GAME POSTPONED Due to inclement weather and unplayable field conditions at Hank Aaron Stadium, the Huntsville Stars (9-16) series opener against the Mobile BayBears (11-14) was postponed on Wednesday night. Barring a setback from Mother Nature, the Stars and BayBears will play a doubleheader on Thursday starting at 5:05 PM. The double dip will be the fourth of the season for the Stars and the second doubleheader in a four-day span. Probable starting pitchers for game one are RHP Jimmy Nelson (3-0, 1.30) for the Stars and RHP Michael Bolsinger (0-0, 2.53 ERA). Probable starting pitchers for game two are RHP Ariel Pena (1-2, 4.84 ERA) for the Stars and LHP David Holmburg (0-2, 2.40 ERA).