Dukes belt Murray in win over Stars

ALBUQUERQUE --- Las Vegas Stars left-hander Heath Murray came into Sunday afternoon's game with the Albuquerque Dukes on a roll, having yielded just six earned runs in his previous 31 innings on the mound.

All of which, apparently, did very little to impress the Dukes, who scored five runs in just 6 1/3 innings against Murray en route to a 6-5 victory.

Left fielder Eric Stuckenschneider squeezed in shortstop Keith Johnson with what proved to be the winning run to cap a three-run seventh as the road-weary Stars lost for just fourth time in their last 14 games.

Las Vegas players had 5:30 a.m. wakeup calls so they could catch their 7 a.m. flight to Albuquerque which had a stop in Salt Lake City. The team landed here about two hours before the first pitch.

Stars manager Jerry Royster then decided to give three of his top players --- third baseman George Arias, first baseman Eddie Williams and outfielder James Mouton --- the day off. Arias eventually entered the contest in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter and flew out to center.

Murray yielded three runs on four hits in the first inning alone before settling down to retire 13 in a row. However, after the Stars rebounded to take a 5-3 lead in the seventh on an RBI double by second baseman Dave Hajek and a RBI single by Dusty Allen, Murray failed to hold off the Dukes in the bottom half of the inning.

With one out, third baseman Garey Ingram doubled and then scored on Henry Blanco's double down the left field line. Will Cunnane then replaced Murray and promptly gave up an infield single to Johnson.

Pinch-hitter Paul LoDuca drove in Blanco with a single to center to tie the game, 5-5, and Johnson and LoDuca advanced to third and second, respectively, on a throwing error by center fielder Chris Prieto. After center fielder Hiram Bocachica was walked intentionally to load the bases, Stuckenschneider laid down the perfect squeeze bunt to drive in Johnson with the game-winning run.

Jeff Kubenka pitched two-hitless innings to earn his fifth save for the Dukes.

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