Stars rout Dukes in season's final home game

At 7:30 p.m. Thursday, it looked as if the Las Vegas Stars were going to outscore the UNLV football team.

The Stars, who hosted the Albuquerque Dukes at Cashman Field, posted two runs in the first inning and were threatening in the second, while the Rebels were stuck on six midway through the second half at North Texas University.

While UNLV exploded in the fourth quarter to finish with 26 points, the Stars were not to be outdone, providing a late fireworks display of their own that propelled them to an 11-3 victory over the Dukes in the final home game of the year.

The win was Las Vegas' seventh in eight tries against Albuquerque this season and improved the Stars to 64-74 overall. The Dukes, who have dropped four of their last six, fell to 65-70.

"We had a lot of fun swinging the bats tonight," said Stars manager Mike Ramsey, whose club exploded for seven runs in the eighth inning. "We've had a lot of big innings lately and it's good to see. We did a lot of good things tonight."

One of the best things the Stars did was jump all over fatigued Albuquerque reliever Neil Weber. The Dukes' bullpen, plagued by injury and overworked in the series, did not even stir as the rangy lefty faced 12 batters in the eighth inning. George Arias and Wayne Kirby both homered in the frame and Gary Matthews Jr. contributed a single and a double.

Kirby's three-run homer to right gave the Stars an 8-3 lead.

* UP NEXT: The Stars wrap up the 1999 season on the road. The opening game of a four-game series with Tucson will pit right-hander Bryan Wolff (8-11, 4.80 ERA) against the Sidewinders Nick Bierbrodt (1-4, 7.27 ERA).

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