So far, so fun.
Scott Van Slyke's two-run double to left field with two out in the eighth inning rallied the Chattanooga Lookouts to an entertaining 4-2 victory over Huntsville in Thursday night's Southern League opener for both teams.
Van Slyke doubled twice and drove in three runs in his Double-A debut before an AT&T Field crowd of 3,985, so he can expect to hear today from his father, former big-league outfielder Andy Van Slyke.
"He'll probably call me to see what happened," Van Slyke said. "He'll ask about my thought process in that last at-bat. We'll definitely talk about it."
Van Slyke described his first two at-bats as "brutal" -- he struck out looking with the bases loaded in the fourth inning -- but he pulled the Lookouts within 2-1 in the sixth on a two-out double down the left-field line, scoring Andrew Lambo. The eighth-inning surge began when Lambo drew a one-out walk and Lucas May reached and advanced on a Huntsville throwing error.
An Eddy Perez grounder to short resulted in Lambo being out at the plate and runners at the corners. That set the stage for the 6-foot-5 Van Slyke, who took third when Perez beat the throw home and scored when Tommy Giles followed with a single to right.
New Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said he challenged his players in the eighth inning to develop the trademark of a comeback team.
"We're going to be a team that battles for nine innings, and I wouldn't be surprised to see this again," he said. "I'm not saying this just because of this game. These guys have a lot of good chemistry going on."
The Stars couldn't say the same about Thursday's performance after committing three errors. All four of Chattanooga's runs were unearned.
Subero also admitted he enjoyed playing by National League rules after a coaching background dominated by American League guidelines.
"I've been in 10 years of AL, but I don't know if that's as fun as this," he said. "This keeps you even more into the game with all the double switches and strategy. It seems like I'm an NL guy so far."
Jesus Rodriguez and Javy Guerra combined for three scoreless innings of relief to bolster a stout first start for Chris Withrow. After getting tagged for two runs off three hits in the first inning, the 21-year-old right-hander from Odessa, Texas, retired 15 straight Stars.
Withrow is rated by Baseball America as the No. 2 organizational prospect.
"I think he was a little amped up that first inning and was up in the zone, but he came back down, made the adjustments and threw the ball great," Lookouts pitching coach Danny Darwin said. "He's learning to locate his fastball well and threw great changeups tonight. He kept hitters off stride. As hard as he throws, they can't sit on his fastball."
Alberto Bastardo is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with Alex Periard scheduled for the Stars.