Hargrove shows his stuff as 'Hawks win

Harvey Hargrove hit a grand slam in the sixth inning to help Lancaster beat Mudville for its sixth consecutive victory

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

Better make some room for outfielder Harvey Hargrove in 2000.

Hargrove single handedly brought the JetHawks back from three runs down with a sixth-inning grand slam to left field, helping Lancaster to a 17-10 win over Mudville before a crowd of 1,728 at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

The win is Lancaster's sixth straight as it is off to a franchiserecord 7-1 start.

Left fielder Juan Silvestre got the inning going with a one-out single over Mudville third baseman Christian Reyes.

Mudville reliever Jaron Seabury followed that with a pair of walks to Peanut Williams and Craig Kuzmic to load the bases for Hargrove. Hargrove entered Thursday's game second in the Cal League with a .474 batting average, tops for Lancaster by 140 points.

"They started me off every (atbat) with breaking balls," Hargrove said. "I just got some good wood on it."

Lancaster, however, wasn't finished with the Mudville Nine.

The JetHawks loaded the bases again in the sixth, this time for second baseman Willie Bloomquist. Bloomquist promptly laced a bases-clearing double to finish the inning's scoring.

"It's one of those games were you have to (score runs) in order to win," Bloomquist said. "It was just who wants to score more runs."

For the fifth time in eight games, a JetHawks starter did not factor into the game's decision. Melqui Torres threw five innings and allowed six hits and eight runs to his record.

Torres retired the side in the first and second innings only to give up three runs in the third, including a two-run line drive homer to left by Mudville catcher Obispo Brito.

He was relieved by Kenny Rayborn, who surrendered three runs in innings of work.

Mudville starter Nick Neugebauer entered the 2000 season as one of Milwaukee's top pitching prospects. But after uncorking seven walks, two hit batters and two wild pitches, Neugebauer is off to a poor start, 0-1 despite not getting a decision on Thursday.

Neugebauer did all that damage, including four earned runs, in just 2 innings of work. He also was thought to be one of the top pitching prospects in all of the Cal League to start the year.

To start the second inning, Neguebauer looked as though the worst was behind him after Lancaster shortstop Antonio Perez struck out for the inning's second out.

But Nuegebauer couldn't end the inning and walked left fielder Mike Abate. Second baseman Willie Bloomquist followed with a triple, scoring Abate and giving Lancaster a 2-0.

Bloomquist then came home on a wild pitch from Neugebauer to give the JetHawks a 3-0 lead.

Outfielder P.J. Williams validated Lancaster manager Mark Parent's decision to start him in the leadoff spot. Williams led off the game with a walk, stole second and third and then came home on the first of Neugebauer's two wild pitches.

Williams left the game in the first inning after breaking his left hand sliding into third base.

Antonio Perez, batting from the ninth spot, broke open for his first mulitple-hit game of the season. He finished 4-for-5 with two bunt singles, two RBI and a double.

In the eighth, Lancaster struck again for four more runs. Bloomquist singled in catcher Travis McClendon and Perez to up the lead to 15-10.

Two batters later, Juan Silvestre clubbed his third home run of the year to cap the scoring.

Lancaster reliever Denny McDaniel faced just seven batters over the eighth and ninth to close the game out for Lancaster.

Uploaded April 14, 2000