Jim Goulart

AUDIO: Logan Schafer with Joe Block on the Brewers' pre-game Wednesday

Hunter Morris delivers with clutch homer as Huntsville knocks off Mobile By Mark McCarter, The Huntsville Times Photo by The Huntsville Times/Glenn Baeske Josh Stinson earns his eighth win of the year for Stars HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- It has an oxymoronic ring to it, that whole "jumbo shrimp" and "metal woods" kind of deal. Hunter Morris called it "a fun kind of pressure." That's what he faced in the fifth inning Tuesday night, with a teammate on third and the Stars trailing by a run. When he got two strikes on him, "the farthest thing on my mind was hitting a home run," Morris said. Which, of course, is exactly what he did. Morris - it's here where city laws require we remind he is "the former Grissom and Auburn star and the first Huntsville native to play for the Stars" - hit his second homer in as many games, and starter Josh Stinson picked up his eighth victory as the Stars knocked off Mobile 4-2. "I couldn't be prouder of Hunter," said Stars manager Darnell Coles. "He's really turned it around the last year and a half, and that's due to his hard work." This was Huntsville's first win over Mobile in six tries this season. The Stars (3-3 in the second half) host the BayBears again tonight at 6:43. Morris not only had the two-run homer but an RBI single in the seventh. Where Morris has been impressive this season is the ability to shrug off moments of failure. As Coles said, "You've got to be able to separate (each at-bat)." Morris had struck out with the tying run aboard to end Monday's game at Jackson, then whiffed with runners in scoring position in the first inning Tuesday. A three-run homer earlier in Monday's game was a distant memory. "I don't carry it in a negative way," Morris said. "I take it as a learning opportunity. "You've got to have a short-term memory in this game. If you let bad at-bats stick with you, they just snowball and it's the worst feeling in the world. I've been there. But if I can turn the negatives into a positive and learn from it, that's what I try to do." The fifth-inning homer was "a situation that was a huge turning point in the game. Stinson was pitching as well as you can ask from a starter. They're a good team, so the opportunity to score runs are few and far between," Morris said. "Eight other guys in the lineup could have gotten the job done. I'm happy I was able to come through." He's come through more than most the lineup, indeed most of the Southern League. Morris now has 80 hits - that's second in the league behind teammate Scooter Gennett - and 53 RBIs, second in the league to Tennessee's Justin Bour. Mobile nicked Stinson (8-4) for a pair of runs in the fourth on a pair of hits, two Hainley Statia errors and wild pitch. Stinson allowed only five hits and one earned run in his six innings. All-Star reliever Jesus Sanchez closed things with a four-out save, his 10th of the season. Lee Haydel opened the Huntsville fifth with a single, Josh Prince walked and they advanced on a Gennett bunt. Haydel scored on a wild pitch, then Morris blasted the homer, his ninth of the year, to right that seemed to have 30 seconds of hang time. "I was just trying to get the ball in play," he said. "Luckily it went a little farther than I expected. It was a little borderline (whether he thought it was going out). I thought it might be a sacrifice fly or a double off the wall. I knew it could be one of three things, and all of them were good." http://media.al.com/huntsville-times/photo/2012/06/11239887-large.jpg

Catching up on Nashville video: Jordan Brown slugs a solo homer in the Sounds' 11-9 Monday loss to Albuquerque CRUSHED - Eric Farris doubles to center in the Sounds' 7-3 Tuesday loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes

Huntsville Media Notes

Via Steve Wendt: Tyler Wagner will start tonight for Helena and Brent Suter will back him up. (Initially, Suter was listed...)

Nashville Media Notes Wisconsin Media Notes

Adam McCalvy with a quick hotline call to Gord Ash for the Thornburg diagnosis.

As per the Nashville Media Notes -- In order to make room for RHP Mike McClendon's return to AAA, RHP Tyler Thornburg has been placed on the 7-day disabled list retroactive to June 25th. No word given on a possible injury. This may be a creative way for the Brewers to juggle the AAA roster at this time. It seems minor league baseball has been pretty liberal in allowing clubs the occasional "phantom" DL stint, almost a taxi sqaud situation. It does seem odd that Thornburg, who was scheduled to make his AAA debut Friday, would be the choice if the DL spot needed was phantom. Hopeful that the Brewer beat guys can track down Gord Ash for details.

Naturally, the start of the Manatees tripleheader is being delayed by rain. Debby is a soaking beast.

DVR Alert! There is a 2nd Timber Rattlers TV game this week, Thursday the 28th at home vs. Peoria (Cubs) on Time Warner Cable Sports 32 (7:05). Unlike Monday's game, this one won't be up against a big league Brewers broadcast.

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 Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division Rookie - Arizona Summer League DSL - Dominican Summer League San Pedro de Macoris Division *** NOTE: AAA Nashville does not play a split schedule. The other leagues, including the rookie leagues, do. When you click on a standings link for Huntsville, Brevard County or Wisconsin, you'll then be able to choose 1st half and/or overall standings in addition to the current 2nd half standings.

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Completion of Tuesday's Suspended Game Brevard County Regularly Scheduled Game One Brevard County Regularly Scheduled Game Two Wisconsin Helena Maryvale DSL Brewers

Wednesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Wily Peralta at Round Rock (Rangers), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the new 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). We imagine the audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Evan Anundsen at home vs. Mobile (Diamondbacks), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. It's fantastic that Huntsville is returning to what will be a traditional broadcast format this year. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV subsciption note: Huntsville road games in four locales (Mississippi, Tennessee, Jacksonville and Pensacola) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: First, it's the completion of Tuesday's suspended seven-inning game (Manatees lead 3-2 in the top of the 5th), then LHP Jed Bradley and TBD (likely RHP Brooks Hall) in the regularly-scheduled doubleheader at home vs. Charlotte (Rays), 11:05 AM gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Charlotte feed from the MiLB main audio page Once again this season, Brevard does not have its own audio coverage. It appears two teams in the Manatees North Division (within which the majority of games are played) have audio, and all six teams in the South Division have audio (at least for their home games), so there will be opportunities to listen to approx. 70% or Brevard's games this season, just all from the opponent's perspective. There are no Florida State League games on MiLB.TV this year. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Matt Miller at home vs. Quad Cities (Cardinals), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime 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. MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; Wisconsin is one of only two (Great Lakes) Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV; Chris' call provides the audio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, all Timber Rattlers home games, and 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too). ********** Helena: LHP Brent Suter at Missoula (Diamondbacks), 7:50 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Helena feed from the MiLB main audio page We're lucky to have Steve Wendt back on board for another H-Crew season. ********** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at the Giants' complex in Scottsdale; 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league ********** DSL Brewers: at the DSL Braves, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest

Baseball America with quick statistical notes on Jorge Lopez and Clint Coulter

Hard to believe, but now up to 94 Brewer farmhands we're following on Twitter. If you don't want to follow them all individually, just favorite this feed and check on it each day to catch up. Nice to see some of the Maryvale men having fun with their first victory -- world domination lies ahead .

Final: Arizona (Maryvale) 8, Arizona Angels 0 Box Score Game Log Will fill in the blanks shortly, but if one of our morning crew sees this first, please feel free -- gotta run, thanks!

Brewers step on home plate nine times in victory By CURT SYNNESS, Helena Independent Record The day after one of the more bizarre endings to a local Pioneer League baseball game in recent memory, the Helena Brewers posted an ordinary 9-1 victory over the Missoula Osprey. “But I’ll take a boring 9-1 win any day,” grinned Helena manager Jeff Isom following the contest at Kindrick Legion Field. Boring compared to Monday’s 2-1 loss to the Osprey, when Brewer Raul Mondesi Jr. was denied a game-tying home run in the bottom of the 10th inning on an appeal play for missing home plate. The local squad broke open a 1-all tie in the fourth inning Tuesday on three straight singles by Michael Reed, Mike Garza and Michael Nemeth. A sacrifice bunt by Emmanuel Quiles and a sac fly to centerfield by Paul Eshelman gave the hosts a 3-1 lead. Helena tacked on six more runs in the fifth, while sending 10 men to the plate, to go up 9-1. After Mondesi led off with a triple — a legitimate three-bagger this time, unlike the night before when his home run was reduced to a triple for not touching home — the hosts posted four singles by Chris McFarland, Nemeth, Alfredo Rodriguez and Mondesi, and a double by Quiles. The Brewers finished with 13 hits, led by Alfredo Rodriguez, who went 3 for 3, and two base knocks each by Mondesi (two RBIs), Reed and Nemeth. Quiles chipped in with a pair of RBIs. Yosbel Gutierrez paced Missoula, going 3-3. Brewer starting pitcher Leonard Lorenzo, a 6-foot, 190-pounder from the Dominican Republic, went five innings, giving up five hits and one run. The 20-year old right hander struck out five and walked two. He was relieved by Joel Pierce, David Otterman and Mike Francisco, who gave up a combined four hits between them. Karl Triana started and took the loss for the Osprey. The Brewers stole three bases on the night, bringing their total to 11 in the past three games. Helena closed out the final innings with web gems by Mondesi in center, Otterman and left fielder Ruben Ozuna. Otterman stopped a screaming come-backer that knocked his glove off, retrieved the ball behind the mound and got his man at first. And Ozuna crashed into the left-field fence in foul territory to gather in a tough line drive. “Our bats came alive tonight, we were aggressive, on the base paths, and once again, our pitchers were outstanding,” the Helena skipper said. “If we can keep throwing well and getting timely hits, we’ll be OK.”

Timber Rattlers finally break through with victory over River Bandits by Tim Froberg, Post-Crescent Staff Writer GRAND CHUTE — At 6-foot-8, Chad Thompson is the tallest player on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers roster. And when the big man finds a groove on the mound, hitters usually come up short against the towering right-hander. Thompson teamed with Mark Williams for a no-hitter earlier this season and delivered another gem Tuesday night. Thompson allowed just two hits over six innings to help the Timber Rattlers snap a six-game losing streak with a 3-2 Midwest League win over the Quad Cities River Bandits at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. “I thought he was much sharper today than he was when he threw the (combined) no-hitter,” Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson said. “He was facing a little better hitting club today.” The River Bandits, a St. Louis Cardinals’ affiliate, are the highest-scoring team in the Midwest League, with 421 runs in 74 games. They are averaging 5.7 runs per game. But aside from a solo homer by outfielder David Medina in the second, the River Bandits did little damage against Thompson. “I just tried to throw strikes down the zone and let my defense play,” Thompson said. “And they made plays for me. It’s just nice to get a ‘W’ and, hopefully, get us going. There were a lot of good vibes in the clubhouse.” In raising his record to 3-1 and lowering his ERA to 4.82, Thompson struck out eight and walked two. He also picked off the River Bandits’ Nick Martini at first base in the opening inning. Thompson, the Brewers’ 27th-round pick out of Orange Coast College in the 2011 first-year player draft, underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010 and isn’t considered to be overpowering. But he has good movement on his fastball and has racked up 51 strikeouts in 46 2/3innings. “He’s a big, long-bodied guy and the ball comes out of his hand nice and effortless,” Erickson said. “His ball kind of jumps on people. When we first got him, there were reports of him throwing mid-90s. He really hasn’t shown that here, but we’re trying to make him more of a pitcher and less of a thrower.” Of Thompson’s 81 pitches, 50 were strikes. He was able to consistently throw his change-up and curveball for strikes. On his last pitch of the night, Thompson froze Quad Cities shortstop Matt Williams with a slow curve for a called third strike and the final out of the sixth inning. “All my pitches were working and my change-up was really sharp,” said Thompson. “I threw that quite often.” Despite Thompson’s stellar outing, Wisconsin had to hang on for the win. Jacob Barnes followed Thompson on the mound and threw two shutout innings before Tommy Toledo took over in the ninth with a 3-1 lead. Toledo was shaky. In addition to hitting a batter, he yielded three hits, including an RBI single by Roberto De La Cruz. But Toledo came up big when he needed to. With runners on second and third and two out, Toledo fanned third baseman Neal Pritchard on three pitches to pick up his third save of the season. There is a vacancy for a closer on the pitching staff following the promotion of Seth Harvey to Brevard County. Erickson feels Toledo, who has a 6-0 record with a 1.48 ERA, will fill that critical role. “In true closer tradition, Tommy made it exciting,” said Erickson. “He’s done a great job in every role that we’ve put him in and he’s going to get more opportunities in this role. He made some decent pitches, but they put some nice swings on him. He kept his composure and got that final out.”

Huntsville Video Highlights

Alumni bonus: The case for Tom Wilhelmsen as the Mariners’ All-Star

The Stars don't publish their summaries online... *** STINSON, MORRIS LEAD STARS OVER BAYBEARS HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – After being swept in a five-game series by the Mobile BayBears down at Hank Aaron Stadium two weeks ago, the Huntsville Stars beat the first half Southern League South champs by a score of 4-2 on Tuesday night at Joe Davis Stadium. With both teams being held scoreless through the first three innings, the BayBears got the scoring started in the fourth inning. Right fielder Mark Krauss and second baseman David Nick led off the inning with singles against Stars starter Josh Stinson. A throwing error by Stars third baseman Hainley Statia scored Krauss to make the score 1-0. Later in the inning, another error by Statia on a groundball by left fielder Dan Kaczrowski plated Nick to give Mobile a 2-0 lead. Unlike during their past series in Mobile, the Stars were able to return the favor in the fifth inning. To begin the rally, left fielder Lee Haydel singled and center fielder Josh Prince walked against BayBears starter Gaby Hernandez. With both runners in scoring position after a sacrifice bunt, a wild pitch from Hernandez allowed Haydel to score to cut the Stars deficit in half. The same at-bat, first baseman Hunter Morris crushed a two-run home run over the right field wall to give Huntsville a 3-2 lead. That would be all the run support the Stars pitching staff needed. Stinson improved to 8-4 on the season after giving up those two runs (one earned) on five hits in six innings of work. After Stinson’s exit, Stars RHP Darren Byrd and LHP Mitch Stetter followed with a combined 1.2 innings of scoreless relief. To end the game, RHP Jesus Sanchez notched down his 10th save of the year by recording the final four outs. From an offensive perspective, the Stars got their final run in the seventh inning on a RBI single by Morris. Overall, the Huntsville native was 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs on the night. His home run in the fifth inning was his second round-tripper in as many games and team-leading ninth on the season. Huntsville also got three hits from Haydel and two hits from shortstop Domnit Bolivar. Huntsville will continue a five-game series with Mobile with game two on Wednesday. The Stars will send RHP Evan Anundsen (4-3, 3.61 ERA) to the mound to square off against BayBears RHP Chase Anderson (2-1, 2.47 ERA). First pitch is at 6:43 PM.

It's undrafted free agent night. The Brewers have signed University of Nebraska-Omaha senior catcher Colby McCord. By Rob White, Omaha World-Herald Staff Writer Former UNO catcher Colby McCord has signed with the Milwaukee Brewers organization and is scheduled to report to the team’s spring training headquarters in Arizona on Wednesday. “We’re very happy for Colby, obviously,” UNO coach Bob Herold said. “He’s a guy who continued to improve every year.” McCord hit a team-high .366 this past season. He also led the Mavericks in slugging percentage (.535), on-base percentage (.435), runs (27), hits (63), doubles (18) and total bases (92). In four years with the Mavs, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Papillion-La Vista product hit .324 with nine homers and 77 RBIs. Scouts showed interest in McCord, but he wasn’t selected in the 40-round draft earlier this month. “Since they took 10 rounds out of the draft (it had been 50), that’s 300 guys who didn’t get drafted this year that normally would have,” Herold said. “That’s where he probably fit in. We’re just happy that he’s getting the opportunity.” Herold said the Brewers were following the recommendation of one of their scouts, former Nebraska and major league outfielder Drew Anderson, in signing McCord. *** School roster profile page

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Tweet of the night so far! Thank you photographer extraordinaire Bill Mitchell in Arizona... * Maryvale good news *