Streak ends for Hawk

He didn't. Barber got the first two outs then fell apart, allowing four two-out runs. The Storm turned a tight game into a blowout then held off a late rally to beat the JetHawks, 8-5, snapping Lancaster's season-best six-game winning streak.

With High Desert's 6-4 victory over Modesto, the JetHawks fell nine games behind the Mavericks for the final playoff spot.

The game unraveled for the JetHawks in a span of five batters. Todd Donovan started the rally with a single, and Vince Faison gave the Storm a one-run lead with his seventh home run of the season. Jason Moore doubled, Barber walked Xavier Nady, and Ben Johnson broke the game open with a two-run triple.

"The big blow was Ben Johnson's, a hanging slider on a 1-2 count," Coolbaugh said. "Ced (Harris) almost made a great play up against the wall, but he couldn't come up with it."

The Storm's rally erased what started as a strong all-around game by the JetHawks. Over the first four innings, Barber pitched well - he allowed five hits, but all were singles - the defense supported him, and the offense manufactured two runs to take the one-run league.

But the JetHawks stranded five runners over the first five innings, and batted 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

"We were in the ballgame, we had some chances to drive in runs," Coolbaugh said. "We just couldn't drive them in."

Nady, the league's leading MVP candidate, drove in a run with a first-inning single, but the JetHawks tied the game in the third when Corey Myers doubled, took third on a sacrifice and scored on Cedrick Harris' groundout. The JetHawks took the lead an inning later when Billy Martin scored on a pair of Storm errors.

Nady added a bases-empty home run in the seventh inning, his 25th of the season, passing Martin for the league's lead. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and two runs batted in.

JetHawks second baseman Matt Kata pulled the JetHawks within three with a three-run, ninth-inning home run, his eighth home run of the season and fourth at The Diamond.

Barber (6-5) allowed five runs on nine hits in five innings. He struck out six batters and lost one. Reliever Brian Matzenbacher allowed three runs, two earned, in two innings.

For the second time in three weeks, Elsinore starter Eric Cyr dominated the JetHawks. On July 28, he struck out 12 in 5 1/3 innings, allowing one run. Tuesday, Cyr (7-2) settled for 10 strikeouts in seven innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits.

"The ball looks pretty lively, it jumps on hitters, and he moves it in and out of the zone," Coolbaugh said. "It was a situation where we just couldn't get to him, we couldn't break it open. We'd get our one run but he'd get out of it."

Uploaded August 15, 2001