The Mississippi Braves scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth and another in the ninth on a solo home run by Mycal Jones, but it wasn’t enough in a 5-4 loss to the Huntsville Stars on Thursday night at Trustmark Park.

Steffan Wilson went 3-for-4 with a solo home run for Huntsville, and Hainley Statia was 2-for-4 with two triples and two runs scored. The Stars took a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning when Sean Halton drove in Statia with a double, then scored on a base hit by Zelous Wheeler.

Statia hit his second triple of the game in the top of the eighth, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Wheeler to make it 5-0.

The M-Braves finally got on the board with a big rally in the eighth inning. Ernesto Mejia led off with a single and scored on a base hit by Cory Harrilchak to break the ice. Two batters later, Braeden Schlehuber drove in two runs with a double to left field to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Jones led off the ninth with his home run to make it 5-4, but the M-Braves couldn’t get any closer. After walking Dan Nelson, Huntsville closer Santo Manzanillo retired the next three batters in order to nail down his fourth save of the season.

The loss snapped a brief two-game winning streak for the M-Braves. Game three of the five-game series is tonight at 7:05 in Pearl.