'Hawks pull Mears out from eye of storm

Willie Bloomquist came through twice late in the game to help Lancaster beat Lake Elsinore.

Lancaster's hottest hitter, Willie Bloomquist, came through in the clutch twice to lead the JetHawks to an incredible 9-8 comeback over visiting Lake Elsinore in 10 innings on Saturday night.

Bloomquist hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Travis McClendon with the game-winning run.

McClendon led off the inning with a walk and was sacrificed to second base. While Harvey Hargrove was being intentionally walked, ball three sailed to the backstop allowing McClendon to advance to third, where Bloomquist delivered the game-winner.

It was Bloomquist who also capped a five-run eighth-inning with a two-run bloop single that gave Lancaster its first lead of the game, 8-7.

Trailing, 7-3, with one out in the eighth, Bo Robinson, Craig Kuzmic and Hargrove walked to load the bases.

McClendon singled off pitcher Ben Grezlovski's glove to bring in the first run. P.J. Williams, fighting through an 0-for-11 skid, followed by beating out a high chopper to first base that closed the gap to 7-5.

Antonio Perez cashed in another run with a grounder to shortstop, setting up Bloomquist's heroics.

Unfortunately, Lancaster's Brandon Parker immediately gave up the lead in the ninth in his bid for his league-leading 18th save.

Mike Christensen's RBI single plated Bill Mott with one out in the ninth to tie the game at 8-8.

Parker (1-2) settled down to record the side in order in the 10th to notch the victory.

The JetHawks had little to celebrate through the first seven innings as the Storm jumped on Lancaster starter Chris Mears for four runs off five hits in the first inning in front of 3,428 fans at the Hangar.

Mears was in trouble from the beginning. Lake Elsinore leadoff batter Elpido Guzman greeted Mears with a bouncing single over Robinson's head at third on the first pitch of the game.

Brian Specht followed with the first of his three walks on the evening. Jim Scharrer singled in Guzman as Lake Elsinore took a 1-0 lead.

Mott ripped an RBI double off the wall in left-center field wall to increase the lead to 3-0 as Mears failed to retire any of the first four batters.

The Storm pushed the lead to 4-0 when Christensen lashed a double past Robinson that a fan grabbed down the left-field line for a ground-rule double. Marcus Knight became the sixth straight batter to reach base safely, singling to put runners at the corners.

Mears' battery-mate, McClendon, who would later compound Mears' problems, came through to record the game's first out when he nailed Knight trying to steal second base.

Mears finally got out of the jam, retiring Rich Stuart on a grounder to third base and Jason Hill on a fly ball to right to end the inning.

The JetHawks got one run back in the bottom half of the first when Perez doubled off the wall in left-center to lead off the inning and was knocked home by Bloomquist's single. It was the ninth straight game that Bloomquist hit safely.

But the Storm added to their lead in the second.

With one out, Mears walked Guzman and Specht, ending his evening, the shortest stint in his Lancaster career.

Once Omar Obando entered, Lake Elsinore manager Mario Mendoza called for the double steal. McClendon tried to catch Guzman at third, but his throw eluded Robinson and sailed into left field.

The errant throw allowed both runners to score and increase the Storm's lead to 6-1.

Despite being down, Lancaster chipped away at the lead over the next three innings.

In the third, the JetHawks cut the lead to 6-2 on Terrmel Sledge's RNI single. Sledge knocked in Bloomquist, who singled on the previous at-bat.

Bloomquist continues to impress offensively. Over the past 10 games, Bloomquist is hitting above .400.

Juan Silvestre added his league-leading 71st RBI in the fifth inning on a groundout that sliced the deficit to 6-3.

Lake Elsinore pushed across a seventh run in the sixth with back-to-back singles and capped by Mott's RBI groundout.

The game finally brought an end to the marathon schedule that pitted Lancaster against Lake Elsinore for the for the 10th time in 16 days.

Now Lancaster faces Visalia six straight days beginning this afternoon at home. The Oaks are one of two Cal League teams Lancaster has a losing record against this season.

Uploaded June 26, 2000