Huntsville, Ala. _ The Carolina Mudcats muscled a season-high four home runs in defeating first-place Huntsville for the fourth time in five games, surging back into the Northern Division race with a 7-5 victory on Monday afternoon at Joe Davis Stadium before 1,684 fans.

With the victories, Carolina closed the gap in the North from seven games to four with 25 remaining in the first half. Second-place West Tenn trails the Stars by two games heading into action tonight. Carolina does not play the Stars or Diamond Jaxx the remainder of the half.

The Mudcats (26-19) hit solo home runs in the first three innings against Stars starter Mike Jones (0-1). Cameron Maybin drove Jones out in the first, Brett Hayes went out to left-center the following inning, and John Raynor deeper to left-center in the third as the Mudcats assumed a 3-0 lead.

Darell McCall (1-0), who made his Double-A debut in one inning of relief on Saturday, worked five innings, allowing four hits and fanning four in the victory. Huntsville (30-15) scored a run in the third and filled the bases against McCall with Southern League leading longball hitter Matt LaPorta batting, but McCall did not surrender. LaPorta whiffed on a 2-2 curveball to end the threat.

Mat Gamel hit a solo homer in the fifth to draw the Stars to within 3-2, but Carolina began pulling away with three runs in the sixth. Chris Coghlan homered to begin the inning against reliever Robert Hinton, then Hayes doubled home two for a 6-2 lead.

The Stars scored twice in the eighth against Matt Yourkin, but Coghlan singled home Maybin in the ninth for a 7-4 advantage

Chris Mobley (S, 4) notched the save despite permitting a run in the last of the ninth. Daniel Barone made his first Mudcats appearance since June, 2007, working two scoreless innings. Barone advanced to Triple-A Albuquerque last season, going 7-0 over 10 starts before earning his first major league promotion to Florida.

Carolina is off Tuesday and opens a five-game homestand against the Jacksonville Suns on Wednesday night. Ryan Tucker (2-2, 1.03), who leads the league in ERA at 1.03, pitches the opener against Mario Alvarez at 7:15 PM ET.