Matt Gruber stroked a two-run single in the fifth and pitched four scoreless innings to lead the Stars to a 2-1 win on Sunday at Marthaler Field. Photos by Mark Beasley

May 15 at Atwater

Atwater 8 Starbuck 0 

The Stars ran into a pitching buzzsaw on Sunday in Atwater. On the hill for the Chuckers was a familiar nemesis. Josh Kingery blanked the Stars, surrendering just one hit while striking out 21 batters.

Almost exactly three years ago Kingery was on the mound and outlasted the Lakers’ Darion Alexander in a 1-0 win for his high school team, ACGC. That knocked the #2 seeded Minnewaska team from the section playoffs after just one game.

On Sunday Kingery not only dominated on the mound against a solid Starbuck lineup, he went 3-4 as the lead-off batter.

Austin VerSteeg’s fourth inning single was the only hit for the Stars.   

Stars      000 000 000 – 0  1  3

Atwater  003 014 00x –  8 10 0

HITTING – Starbuck:

Austin VerSteeg 1-4 

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)

Austin VerSteeg (L) 5-6-4-0-3-6

Aaron VerSteeg      1.1-2-4-3-1-3

Michael Gruber       1.2-2-0-0-0-4

May 22 at Marthaler Field

Starbuck 2 Regal 1 

The Stars played their rivals from Regal on cool, breezy Sunday afternoon.  

The game was scoreless until Regal took advantage of two walks and a wild pitch to scratch across a run off of Starbuck starter Austin VerSteeg.

The Stars were able to take the lead back thanks to a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Drew Olsonaski opened the frame with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Torii Johnson. Michael Gruber then drew a walk and both runners advanced a base on a wild pitch. With two outs Matt Gruber lined a single to center field, scoring both Olsonaski and Gruber, giving the Stars a 2-1 lead.

Matt Gruber took over on the mound to begin the sixth, staked with a one-run lead. Gruber pitched nearly flawlessly, surrendering just a single to open the ninth inning. The runner was on second with one out, but Gruber was able to get a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat and the game.

Austin VerSteeg was the winning pitcher as the Stars improved their record to 2-1 early in the 2022 season.

Starbuck will next play on Sunday, hosting New London at Marthaler Field.

Regal  000 100 000 – 1 2 0

Stars   000 020 000 – 2 4 1

HITTING – Starbuck:

Michael Gruber 0-3 r, Matt Gruber 1-3 rbi-2, Austin VerSteeg 1-3, Jackson Hendrickson 1-3, Mitchell Gruber 1-3, 

Drew Olsonaski 0-2 r 

PITCHING (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)

Austin VerSteeg (W) 

                       5-1-1-1-4-8

Matt Gruber              

                       4-1-0-0-0-4