Stars get first win at Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. -- The Las Vegas Stars had to work overtime to earn their first victory in five attempts at Fresno's Beiden Field.

Las Vegas rallied for two runs in the ninth inning to tie the score and erupted for four runs in the 10th to hand the Pacific Coast League Southern Division-leading Grizzlies a 10-6 defeat Wednesday night in the first of a four-game series.

The Stars improved their record to 53-51 while the slumping Grizzlies lost for the seventh time in 11 games.

Trailing 6-4 going into the ninth, Charles Poe opened the inning with a double and scored on George Arias' sacrifice fly. Chris Prieto reached first on a two-out single, stole second base, moved to third on an error and scored on a single to right by Archi Cianfrocco. On the play, the Stars' Eddie Williams was thrown out trying to score from second to end the inning.

After Stars relievers Al Newman and Paul Menhart held the Grizzlies scoreless in the bottom of the ninth, catcher Creighton Gubanich opened the top of the 10th with his 11th home run and gave Las Vegas a 7-6 lead.

Arias and Prieto added RBI doubles and Williams drove in the final run with a single. Prieto paced the Stars' 17-hit attack with four hits and drove in three runs.

Menhart shut down Fresno in the bottom half of the inning and picked up the win, improving his record to 6-4. Fresno's top reliever, Jeff Darwin (1-5) allowed six runs on eight hits in 1/frac2/3 innings and suffered the loss.

The series continues tonight at 7:05 as the Stars send right-hander Brad Kaufman (8-7) to the mound to face the Grizzlies' Randy Phillips (1-2).

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