Ulloa lifts JetHawks to 2-1 win

Manny Ulloa allowed one run while working into the seventh inning and Juan Silvestre sparked the offense as Lancaster won a close one.

Friday night Ulloa kept the JetHawks close and the offense did the rest as Lancaster fought threw for a 2-1 win over Mudville in front of 1,143 at Billy Hebert Field.

The JetHawks used a sacrifice fly from Juan Silvestre in the fifth and a run-scoring single from Sheldon Fulse that plated Silvestre in the eighth as their only offense.

Ulloa had one major mistake in the game before leaving in the seventh inning. The first pitch he threw in the bottom of the seventh, Mudville third baseman Jeff Deardorff took deep over the left field fence for a solo home run and an early 1-0 lead for Mudville.

"Manny didn't have his best stuff out there," Lancaster manager Mark Parent said. "But he still found a way to keep us in there, to make that one run hold."

Ulloa never quite found his groove on the mound but managed to strand five runners in the game on four hits.

Aaron Looper came in to relieve Ulloa in the bottom of the seventh with the score tied 1-1. Looper faced four batters, retiring two and leaving two on base for reliever Denny McDaniel.

McDaniel responded by walking Mark Cridland to walk the bases. But he got Deardorff to pop out and end the inning with the score still tied.

With the JetHawks responding with the go-ahead run in the eighth, McDaniel (1-0) earned his first win of the year.

Brandon Parker again got the call for Lancaster, to close out the game in the bottom of the ninth. He preserved the win by facing four batters in the ninth, earning his tenth save of the season.

Shortstop Mark Ernster started the inning for Mudville with a flare single to right but the Nine failed to capitalize on the late base runner in losing.

Parker got Cridland to strikeout after an epic 11-pitch at-bat to end the game.

"That guy kept fouling off fastball after fastball," Parker said. "But I just kept going after him."

The JetHawks were able to tie the game in the fifth, as Silvestre knocked Corey Freeman in on his sacrifice fly to right. Freeman set the inning up by singling to right to leadoff the inning and followed to steal second.

In the top of the ninth, Lancaster had a shot to pad their lead when Terrmel Sledge singled with two outs and Silvestre to follow. But Sledge was gunned down at second attempting to steal to end the inning.

Sledge was the fifth JetHawk gunned down in the series by Nine catcher Obispo Brito.

The win coupled with Rancho Cucamonga's 9-4 loss at San Jose gives the JetHawks a two-game lead in the Cal League Southern Division.

Uploaded May 13, 2000