Stampdeded

Flight to finals scrubbed as 'Hawks can't snap out of hitting slump

But after dropping the first two games in the series, the Stampede pitching staff took over and sent the club to three straight wins, including a 4-1 win Tuesday night, sending San Bernardino into the league championship series and ending the JetHawks' most successful season in history.

"Failure is hard to swallow," JetHawks manager Mark Parent said. "And for a lot of these young guys, this is their first taste of failure.

"The best team usually wins and it goes deeper than just the paper and the stats. It's character, the want of people. . . I don't know if we weren't the best team. If we weren't, we were damn close."

After taking the first two games in the series, the JetHawks seemingly succumbed to the most dominant staff in the league, starting Sunday with Carlos Garcia's 13-strikeout performance. Tuesday, San Bernardino's pitching came full circle as Eric Junge was magnificent in a one-run, six-hit, complete game effort.

Over the final three games, Lancaster, which averaged nearly seven runs a game in the regular season, could manage eight runs in 33 innings.

"That's a club we battled with back and forth all year," second baseman Craig Kuzmic said. "It's been a battle with them all year long.

"Garcia threw a hell of a game the other day, and it really started there."

The JetHawks looked ready to break out of its offensive slump against Junge, scraping out an early run against him in the bottom of the first with three singles.

The inning could have been bigger for Lancaster, but they ran themselves out as Antonio Perez was caught stealing in the frame.

"They have a good combination with their pitching," league MVP Juan Silvestre said. "Our offense just wasn't very good the last three games.

"We were too aggressive at the plate, we could have won (game four) but we threw it away, and tonight, our offense just wasn't working."

The Stampede picked up all the runs they would need in the third off Lancaster starter Caleb Balbuena. Jesus Feliciano started the rally with a one-out, seeingeye single past third.

Michael Collins followed with a single and Balbuena hit Joe Thurston with a pitch to load the bases with one out.

Game 4 hero, Jimmy Gonzalez, brought Feliciano in with a single to right. JetHawks' right fielder Wilfredo Quintana attempted to make a play on Feliciano at home but threw the ball over the head of catcher Scott Maynard with Balbuena not backing up the play, allowing Collins to also score and giving the Stampede a 2-1 lead that they would not relinquish.

Balbuena faced one batter in the fourth, Lamont Matthews, and hit him with a pitch as well, prompting Parent to relieve him with Jeff Heaverlo. For Heaverlo, it was his first appearance in the series since he started game 1.

"Jeff was on tonight," Parent said. "He was ready to go out there and he did a hell of a job for us. Balbuena looked good for those first two innings but I couldn't leave him out there for that fourth one."

Heaverlo went 4 innings, allowing one run on four hits, while walking two and striking out three.

"I figured we were the dominant team in the league," Kuzmic said. "We should have won this league."

Uploaded September 13, 2000