HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A thrilling season opener at Joe W. Davis Stadium goes to the BayBears after Gerardo Parra’s diving catch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning preserves a 5-4 win over the Stars.

Parra’s diving grab helped Daniel Schlereth (S, 1) pick up his first professional save in his Double-A debut. It didn’t come easy for Schlereth as the Stars (0-1) put runners on second and third with one out, but Schlereth fanned Shane Justis before Parra’s heroics on a line drive off the bat of third baseman Vinny Rottino.
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The BayBears (1-0) held the lead early as they used three walks including one to Bryan Byrne with the bases loaded in the first inning to go up 1-0. Huntsville quickly bounced back with their only two hits off starter Matt Torra (1-0) who tossed five solid innings. Adam Stern singled and scored on a triple by Justis. The Stars took their only lead when Justis came home on a groundout off the bat of Rottino.

In the third, the BayBears knotted the score at 2-2 with an RBI single by Byrne to bring home James Skelton. Evan Frey touched the dish in the fifth after a sac fly from Cyle Hankerd gave the BayBears a 3-2 advantage.

Frey got things going with his speed in the seventh as he reached on an error, took a second on a balk, third on a steal and home on an errant throw by catcher Jonathon Lucroy to make it 4-2. The BayBears added another tally in the seventh on Byrne’s third RBI of the night, a single to bring home Skelton.

Huntsville nudged closer with a Lucroy dinger in the seventh and another run in the eighth off reliever Daniel Stange before the door was slammed in the ninth.

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