'Hawks put four to floor

Lancaster scored four times in the 12th inning to beat Rancho Cucamonga Thursday night at The Epicenter.

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

Thursday night was no different.

Kuzmic drove in three runs on a 2-for-5 night, which included a fourth inning two-run homer, as Lancaster squeezed by Rancho Cucamonga 13-9 in 12 innings at the Epicenter before a crowd of 4,056.

The JetHawks now are 8-3 in extra inning games.

P.J. Williams, running for Bo Robinson who singled to lead off, scored the go-ahead run in the 12th on a throwing error by catcher Darren Bush as Lancaster sent nine batters to the plate in the inning, scoring four runs.

Shortstop Antonio Perez smacked a three-run inside-thepark home run, his 11th of the year, off of the center-field wall in the 12th to cap off the game's scoring.

Lancaster reliever Denny McDaniel went scoreless over the 10th and 11th innings to earn the win.

The JetHawks garnered most of their offense in the six-run sixth that included a two-run double from Perez, a one-run double from Kuzmic and run-scoring singles from Peanut Williams and Scott Maynard. The team finished with six hits in the inning.

For Lancaster, it was the 16th time this season that the JetHawks had scored at least six runs in an inning and 23rd time they had batted around.

The Quakes gave the ball to Steve Watkins to open the game and he breezed past the Lancaster lineup the first time through.

In three innings, Watkins faced the minimum, setting the side down in order each inning.

But with one out in the fourth, designated hitter Freddy May reached on an error by first baseman Graham Koonce and that was all it took for the league's top-hitting team to kick in.

Two batters after May, Juan Silvestre sigled to right, scoring May for his 104th run batted in of the season. That RBI leaves Silvestre two short of the JetHawks record of 106 RBI, set by Jesus Marquez in 1996.

Kuzmic followed Silvestre with his two-run home run, drawing Lancaster within one run.

In the 10th, Lancaster squandered a leadoff single by Maynard and failed to even get him past second base.

For JetHawks starter Chris Mears, the 35-pitch four-run second inning insured his stay on the mound would be short. Mears left after 4 innings, giving up six runs on six hits and trailing 6-3.

In the top of the sixth, the JetHawks pulled Mears from the clutches of the loss column with the six-run inning.

In the second, Mears served up a three-run homer to right fielder John Adams and a run-scoring single to shortstop Cristian Berroa to quickly fall behind 4-0.

Quakes designated hitter Josh Loggins was able to extend his hitting streak to 20 after he smacked a two-out single off of Mears in the third.

Mears started the fifth shakily, giving up a leadoff double to Berroa and hitting Shane Hopper with a pitch to give the Quakes men on first and second with no outs.

Left fielder Al Benjamin laced a single to left that scored Berroa and chased Mears from the game. Parent relieved Mears with Neil Longo who gave up a single to catcher Darren Bush that scored Hopper but ended the inning without further damage.

Longo eventually gave way to reliever Cody Morrison with two outs in the sixth. Morrison threw one pitch to Berroa, who grounded out to end in the inning.

Morrison started the seventh strong and quickly picked up two outs, only to give up back-to-back singles to Bush and No.-nine hitter Clay Snellgrove.

Leadoff man Jeremy Owens made Morrison pay with a two-run triple over the head of Silvestre in left to tie the game at 9-9 and send it into extra innings.

Uploaded July 21, 2000