JetHawks head home on high note

Jeff Heaverlo pitched five shutout innings as Lancaster won its fourth straight road game

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

The Lancaster JetHawks have their first sweep of the year.

The JetHawks held on Tuesday night for a hard-fought 3-2 win over Modesto in front of 818 fans at John Thurman Field to sweep the A's in the three-game series and finished their season opening road trip at 5-1.

"I'm not satisfied with 5-1," Lancaster manager Mark Parent said. "I don't know if I'm asking too much of them, but there are always things to work on.

"I'm proud of these guys, but we're still missing signs and plays."

The JetHawks took advantage of a leadoff walk by starter Shane Bazzell and a pair of infield errors to take an early 1-0 lead.

Outfielder P.J. Williams drew the opening walk and should have been caught stealing three pitches later, but second baseman Justin Hall dropped the throw from catcher Miguel Olivo.

"For me to get on and score the first run. . . is what I'm supposed to do," Williams said. "I just want to get out there early and steal some bags."

Two batters later, Willie Bloomquist singled to place runners at the corners, courtesy of an errant throw from left fielder Mike Lockwood.

First baseman Peanut Williams then grounded out to third, but drove in P.J. Williams in the process.

Lancaster starter Jeff Heaverlo (2-0) pitched solidly, tossing five innings of shutout ball to earn the win.

Heaverlo struck out five batters and scattered a pair of hits and left the game with a 1-0 lead. He has given up just one earned run in two starts through 10 innings this year.

"I went deep in the count on a lot of guys and that hurt," Heaverlo said. "It was kind of an off-day.

"I threw 93 pitches in five innings. I won't have any long outings if I keep that up."

Reliever Neil Longo was given an extra two-run cushion before he entered the game in the top of the sixth.

A's reliever Mario Ramos started the sixth by walking both shortstop Antonio Perez and Bloomquist.

Ramos responded by getting first baseman Peanut Williams to strikeout. He then appeared to get Craig Kuzmic to groundout into an inning-ending double play.

But Hall couldn't make the turn to second base and was only able to get Kuzmic at first for the second out of the inning.

Lancaster made the A's pay with back-to-back RBI singles from Bo Robinson and Harvey Hargrove to take a 3-0 lead.

Hargrove was the lone JetHawk with a multiple-hit day, finishing 2-for-3.

"This has definitely been a great road trip," Robinson said. "We came in here and swept a good team. We're playing good baseball.

"Those were big runs for us because this was a low-scoring game. We've shown we can win the highscoring and the low-scoring games."

Longo was unable to keep the three-run lead when he surrendered a two-run homer to Brandon Luderer with two outs in the sixth.

Luderer dominated JetHawk pitching in the three game series with two home runs, a double and six RBI in the three-game set.

Converted closer Brandon Parker earned his third save in as many tries, striking out the side to end the game.

The JetHawks had five hits on the night, none for extra bases.

Uploaded April 12, 2000