Saturday, April 11, 1998 | 8:52 a.m.
Jerry Royster got what he was waiting for. The Las Vegas Stars' manager had watched his ball club struggle offensively in its first three games of the season.
That all changed on Friday night, as the Stars exploded for a 20-9 win over Edmonton in the fourth game of a four game series at Cashman Field. With the win, the Stars spilt the four game set and move to 2-2 on the season.
At the plate, the Stars were unstoppable. They finished with 20 hits, three of which were home runs. The Stars Had an eight run fifth inning, which ties a Star record for runs in an inning, and five run third inning. Going into the game, the Stars had only scored a combined 10 runs on 27 hits in their first three outings.
"It's just good to actually get going like we expected," Royster said. "We need guys to swing the bat with confidence...it takes a game like this to get going." Edmonton jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead with Mike Neill and Kurt Abbott both hitting solo home runs off of Las Vegas starter Donne Wall.
In the third inning, the Stars took a lead that they would never surrender. Charles Poe, Greg LaRocca and George Arias had run-scoring singles in the rally and Eddie Williams added a two-run single to put the Stars in front 5-3.
The Stars added two more runs in the fourth inning with a Jason Thompson two-run home run, his second of the season. His first came in the Stars' 1-0 win over Edmonton on Thursday night.
"You can see confidence better in minor leaguers," Royster said. "Jason Thompson I think only had one hit tonight and he looks very confident, he's hitting the ball real hard." This solid hitting, combined with two Edmonton errors led to the Stars' eight run fifth inning.
Aaron Guiel went 2-for-2 in the inning with a triple, single, three runs batted in and a run scored. Poe added a two-run single and Dave Hajek had a infield single that plated another run.
Edmonton answered back with a five-run sixth inning to cut the deficit to 15-8. Abbott and Brad Taylor had a two-run doubles in the outburst. "Unfortunately, we gave up five runs," Royster said. "So everything in this game wasn't a positive." Williams had a solo home run for the Stars in the sixth and Mandy Romero hit a solo shot in the seventh.
Everyone spot in the Stars' lineup accounted for a hit, except for the leadoff spot where Ruben Rivera and Chris Prieto went a combined 0-for-5. Hajek had four hits, Guiel had three and Poe had two.
The Stars will host Calgary tonight at 7:05 p.m. Kevin Lomon will make his first start of the year for Las Vegas.
The Stars came three hits shy of tying of club record for most hits in a game, as they were within distance of the 23 hits put up on Sept. 6, 1986, in a game against Phoenix.
Wall pitched five innings to earn the win, as the 1995 Pacific Coast League Player of the Year struckout six and yielded five hits. With Matt Clement and Paul Menhart combining on a shutout in Thursday's win and the Stars' bats coming alive in Friday's win, Royster has the right to be optimistic. "Once we get it all together, we should good," Royster said. "The total package that we can put on the field looks real well."
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