Chattanooga Lookouts logoHuntsville starting pitcher Austin Ross was dominant Friday night at Joe Davis Stadium, and Chattanooga counterpart Steve Smith wasn't as the Stars rolled to a 9-0 win to square the Southern League's North Division playoff series.
The Lookouts and Stars have each won a game in the best-of-five series, which shifts to AT&T Field tonight for game three.
Ross worked seven scoreless innings in picking up the win. Daniel Mayora's two-out single in the fourth inning was the lone hit allowed by Ross, who tallied eight strikeouts.
It was far from smooth for Smith, who pitched a shutout in his last start. He opened by hitting Nick Shaw, allowing a triple to center field by Orlando Arcia and an RBI groundout by Hector Gimenez that provided Huntsville a 2-0 lead. The Stars made it 3-0 in the second inning when Josh Prince doubled to left and scored on Yadiel Rivora's single to center.
Huntsville took a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning and scored a fifth run on Tyrone Taylor's single to left that brought Shaw home. The Stars put the game away moments later with Josh Felhauer's grand slam to right-center.
Tonight's game will start at 7:15, with Jeremy Kehrt scheduled to start on the mound for the Lookouts and Michael Strong for the Stars. Huntsville's win Friday assures there will be a game four at AT&T on Sunday at 2:15.