JetHawks win before huge crowd

Chris Mears pitched well for the second consecutive outing as Lancaster won before the largest crowd in stadium history.

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

A holiday induced packed-house crowd of 7,122 gladly cheered on the JetHawks to a 7-2 win over Modesto at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

The crowd was the largest in stadium history and one of the biggest in the Cal League this season.

Lancaster (50-33, 10-3) starter Chris Mears shook off the big crowd to go 7 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on the way to his sixth win. In his outing, Mears scattered nine hits and struck out six and walked one.

"He was better the second half of the game than he was the first half," pitching coach Scott Budner said. "He couldn't get his breaking ball across for strikes, but later on, he got ahead of guys and was effective."

After a disastrous start to start the second half on June 24 against Lake Elsinore - 1 1/3 innings, six runs, three walks, no strikeouts - he has rebounded the last two times out. Back on June 29, Mears threw five innings of three-run ball against Visalia, but took the loss 3-2.

"It was almost like he didn't get loose until he threw 50 or 60 pitches," JetHawks manager Mark Parent said. "His last outing was better than the one before and this one was better than the last.

"He had some pretty crappy outings before the half, but it's all about how you finish and hopefully, he can go out strong."

Mears has seemingly come to terms with his role with the team with the recent promotion of pitcher Josue Matos to Class-AA New Haven.

"If I can keep doing this, it's a good sign for me and the team," Mears said. "In the seventh and eighth innings I felt better than I did at the start. I just need to work that into the beginning next time."

In the third, Lancaster staked Mears to a 2-0 lead after shortstop Antonio Perez took Modesto starter Juan Pena deep for his seventh home run. Pena had a chance to end the inning unscathed, but walked leadoff man P.J. Williams with two outs before getting to Perez.

The home run extended Perez's hitting streak to 15 games, with all of his home runs coming in the month since his activation from the disabled list with a broken hand.

"When (Perez) is going, he can do so many things for us," Parent said. "It's just keeping that focus every day; not for just a week. He was into the game tonight and made the plays."

In the bottom of the seventh, Bo Robinson and Peanut Williams led off with back-to-back singles. Both moved into scoring position on a sacrifice by catcher Scott Maynard.

After Modesto manager Greg Sparks elected to intentionally walk Terrmel Sledge to load the bases, P.J. Williams brought home two insurance runs with a double down the third-base line.

"I guess they assumed I couldn't do the job," Williams said. "I think it's funny, but I had to prove it to them.

"I knew, bases loaded, they had to give me a pitch across the plate and I took it over the third-base bag."

Perez capped off the scoring with his third RBI of the game, a sacrifice fly to right that scored Sledge.

"I appreciated the effort I got from my entire team tonight," Parent said. "The bunts, the sacrifices; everyone did their job. With Maynard and P.J., it was really key for us tonight."

Uploaded July 5, 2000