The Starbuck Stars won two games Saturday and Sunday to raise their record above .500.  The Stars won at home against Paynesville, Saturday night, 14-2, and Starbuck also won a close game at Regal, Sunday, 10-9.

The Stars, who are 5-4 overall, have two more games on tap this week, including a game at Atwater, Friday, and a game at home against Norway Lake-Sunburg, Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

During the most-recent two games, Darion Alexander, Aaron Versteeg and Matt Gruber each had five hits and Michael Gruber had four.

Stars 14, Paynesville 2

Aaron Versteeg had four hits and Matt Gruber had two homeruns to lead the Stars to a 14-2 victory at home against Paynesville, Saturday night.

Gruber, who was 3-for-5 overall, had a homerun in the first inning and two-run shot in the sixth as Starbuck plated four runs in the fourth and seven in the sixth to end the game early due to the 10-run rule.

Versteeg meanwhile, went 4-for-4 with two runs, three RBI and two doubles as Starbuck outhit the Pirates 14-5.

Darion Alexander, who was 2-for-4 at the plate with a bases-loaded triple, walk and five RBI, went the distance on the mound to earn the win.  He walked three batters, allowed five hits and two runs and struck out eight.

Michael Gruber went 2-for-4 with two runs, while Mitchell Gruber, Austin Friese and Torii Johnson also had hits for the Stars.

Stars 10, Regal 9

The Stars pulled out a dramatic victory over Regal, Sunday, scoring nine runs in their final two-at bats to rally from a 6-1 deficit and getting the final two outs on a double-play.  Darion Alexander had another big game, going 3-for-5 with two runs, a double and RBI, while five others had two hits each.

Trailing 6-1, the Stars scored seven runs in the top-half of the eighth to go up 8-6.  After Regal countered with two runs in the bottom-half of the inning to tie the score up at 8-8, the Stars scored two more runs in the ninth before holding on in the bottom-half of the inning.

In the ninth, Alexander, Matt Gruber and Austin Versteeg led off the inning with singles before Aaron Versteeg’s single plated two runs for a 10-8 lead.

In the bottom-half of the inning, Regal scored on run and had runners on first and second with one out when the final batter hit a grounder to the pitcher to start a double play.

Michael Gruber, the fourth of four Starbuck pitchers, earned the victory.  Also pitching were Austin and Aaron Versteeg and Torii Johnson.

Coming through with two hits each for the Lakers were Michael Gruber, Matt Gruber, Austin Versteeg, Drew Olsonaski and Mitchell Gruber, while adding one hit each were Aaron Versteeg, Austin Friese and Andrew Toop.

at Starbuck 14, Paynes 2

Paynesville 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 — 2 5 2

Starbuck (4-4) 1 2 0 4 0 7 x — 14 14 0

HITTING:  STARS-Aaron Versteeg 4-for-4, 2 run, 3 RBI, 2 doubles; Matt Gruber 3-for-5, 2 runs, 4 RBI, 2 HR, sb; Michael Gruber 2-for-4, 2 runs, bb; Darion Alexander 2-for-4, 1 run, 5 RBI, triple, bb; Mitchell Gruber 1-for-2, 1 run; Austin Friese 1-for-4, 1 run; Torii Johnson 1-for-3, 1 run, hbp; Andrew Toop 0-for-2, 2 runs, RBI, 2 bb; Drew Olsonaski 0-for-1, 1 run, bb, sb; Jackson Hendrickson 0-for-3, 1 run, hbp . . . PAY-Rick Hendrickson 2-for-3, 1 run

PITCHING:  STARS-Darion Alexander (W) 7-5-2-2-3-8 . . . PAY-Bennett Evans (L)  3 1/3-7-7-7-3-4; Sam Ohrlein 2 2/3-7-7-4-2-1

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Starbuck 10, at Regal 9

Starbuck (5-4) 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 7 2 — 10 16 2

Regal 1 0 1 0 0 0 4 2 1 — 9 11 0

HIT:  STARS-Darion Alexander 3-for-5, 2 runs, RBI, double; Michael Gruber 2-for-5, 2 runs; Matt Gruber 2-for-5, 2 runs, RBI; Austin Versteeg 2-for-5, 1 run, 3 RBI, sb; Drew Olsonaski 2-for-5, 1 run; Mitchell Gruber 2-for-3, 1 run, RBI, double, sac; Aaron Versteeg 1-for-4, 1 run, RBI, hbp, sb; Austin Friese 1-for-3; Andrew Toop 1-for-2, 2 RBI, double; Jackson Hendrickson 0-for-3, RBI, sf, hbp . . . REGAL-Luke Knutson 3-for-5, 3 runs, double, RBI, bb, 2 sb; two others with two hits each

PITCHING:  STARS-Austin Versteeg 6-3-2-2-6-6; Aaron Versteeg 1-2-4-4-4-0; Torii Johnson 0-3-2-2-0-0; Michael Gruber (W)  2-3-1-1-1-2 . . . REGAL-Brandon Wedel 7-7-4-4-0-4; Connor Rhlof (L)  2-9-6-6-0-1