Mudcats edge Stars 5-4

Published in Sports on July 19, 2006 2:16 PM

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ZEBULON -- Brett Carroll hit his first Double-A homer to lead Paul Mildren to his ninth win as Carolina edged Huntsville 5-4 at Five County Stadium on Tuesday night.

Carroll's three-run shot in the sixth cracked a 2-2 tie and buoyed Mildren (9-7) to his third straight win. Mildren allowed two earned runs (three earned) over 62/3 innings en route to his 11th quality start in a row.

Carolina (10-16) trailed 2-0 into the sixth inning, on the heels of four straight losses in Montgomery in which the Mudcats scored a total of five runs. However, Carolina unloaded against starting pitcher Steve Hammond (2-2) and Gerritt Simpson for five runs in the sixth alone. Edgar Gonzalez drew a walk to begin the frame, then took second on a bloop single by Lee Mitchell. Ryan Bear hit a ground-rule double to left field to score Gonzalez before Hammond was replaced. Newcomer Tony Schrager walked to fill the bases ahead of a sacrifice fly by Jonathan Aceves to tie the score. Carroll followed by swatting a 3-2 pitch from Simpson over the left field wall.

Scott Tyler pitched 11/3 of scoreless relief, followed by Christopher Young (S, 5), who yielded a run in the ninth, but stranded the tying run at third as Steve Moss flew to left to end the game.

Carolina moved into a fourth-place tie with the Stars (10-16) five games behind first-place Chattanooga.

James Russ (5-7, 3.54) starts tonight against Jorge DeLaRosa (2-1, 1.89), who is making another major league rehab start for the Milwaukee Brewers. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:15 p.m.