Hawks find .01 reasons to celebrate

Lancaster was officially eliminated from the California League playoff race more than a week ago and San Bernardino clinched the Cal League Southern Division title Saturday and is bound for the playoffs.

So why was the JetHawks' dugout so elated when starting pitcher Brandon Webb left the game after only 3 2/3 innings?

Nursing a painful hip, the JetHawks pitcher became the only starter on the team this season to dip his ERA below 4.00 en route to helping Lancaster take a 9-3 victory Sunday over San Bernardino in the penultimate game of the season.

He was pulled in the third by JetHawks manager Scott Coolbaugh the second after he struck out San Bernardino's Justin Leone to secure a 3.99 ERA.

"That's what I was looking for today," Webb said. "It felt really good to go out there and get the win."

On his final walk to the dugout, fans clapped for the right-hander before he was swamped by a dozen or so high-fives from teammates.

"Brandon did a good job even though he played with a bad hip. He got the job done for us," Coolbaugh said.

He suffered with the rest of the team during a 2-26 month of June and at one point failed to a win for over a month.

Toward the end of July, however, Webb once again became a frequent visitor to the win column with more offensive support.

"I'm really happy with the season and I'm looking forward to going back home and taking a rest for a while," Webb said.

Webb's 3 2/3 innings performance, however, was overshadowed by the JetHawks' hitters.

Lancaster scored in every inning except the second and the eighth and took advantage of mental mistakes by San Bernardino.

J.D. Closser drove in five runs on three hits. Closser shrugged off his performance at the plate and stressed the importance of playing hard even though the games may appear to be played in vain.

"It's never meaningless," Closser said. "We've got to go out there and put up numbers and continue to play hard. It's an outstanding win."

It was a bad decision from San Bernardino catcher Juan Alcala, that helped the JetHawks get onto the scoreboard first.

He tried to throw out Closser stealing second, but Robbie Hammock's heads-up baserunning allowed him to score easily from third on the play.

On the very next at bat, Kevan Burns drove in Closser, giving the JetHawks a 2-0 lead by the end of the first inning.

After scoring in the third and the fourth, Closser effectively put the lid on any Stampede comeback with a two-run home run over the right field wall. He drove in two more runs in the eighth to cap off the scoring for the JetHawks.

The only major blemish on the night for Lancaster came in the eighth when Greg Dobbs hit a two-run home run off Mike Garber.

Nevertheless, it was too little, too late for San Bernardino.

"We played a good, solid baseball game tonight," Coolbaugh said.

Lancaster will close out the season against San Bernardino today.

Notes: The JetHawks will finish the season with the worst road record in the California League. With its loss Wednesday against High Desert, Lancaster is 22-48 on the year. At the Hangar, the JetHawks are 10 games over .500...Lancaster leads Cal League with a .281 batting average...Lancaster will finish the year with the third-best attendance in the league. As of Sunday, Lancaster has an average game attendance of 2,489. Rancho Cucmaonga leads the league with an average of 4,173 per game... Former San Bernardino player Chris Snelling will win the Cal League batting title this year after batting .336 in 450 at bats. He hasn't played with the Stampede for nearly a month after being promoted to Class-AA San Antonio in August.

Uploaded September 4, 2001