By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
STOCKTON - All of the bad breaks that the Lancaster JetHawks have endured this year - the bad hops, the bad calls, the faux inside-the-park home runs - all fell into the glove of Mike Lanza Wednesday night.
With one of the California League's top hitters at the plate, runners on first and second and the JetHawks up by one run, Todd Niemeier got Mike Rennhack to line into a double play, sending Lancaster to a 5-4 victory over Stockton at Billy Hebert Field.
"That was pretty much the play of the ballgame right there," Lancaster manager Dave Brundage said.
It sure was.
After the JetHawks had scratched out a one-run lead, and withstood a towering homer by Rennhack in the process, it was all left onto the shoulders of the lefthanded Niemeier.
He started the eighth by walking the first two hitters. But on a 3-1 count, Rennhack hit a line drive to Lanza, who had entered the game for defensive purposes that same inning.
Lanza flipped the ball to second baseman Chris Dean to double up Scott Krause. Then Niemeier struck out Geoff Jenkins, the potential go-ahead run, to end the threat.
"Right off the bat," Niemeier said of Rennhack's line-out, "I knew Lanza would be there. Things worked out. I got lucky."
Lanza also turned a game-ending double play in the ninth to give John Thompson his 10th save and Brett Hinchliffe the victory.
The JetHawks improved to 22-25 in the second half, 58-59 overall. They finished the road trip 4-2.
Hinchliffe (9-8) gave up four earned runs in seven innings, striking out five and giving up eight hits.
Even though he wasn't dominating, Hinchliffe stayed away from the big inning that plagued him in the first three months of the season.
"I was trying to share the ball with my teammates," Hinchliffe said. "They made some great plays and saved me a couple of innings."
Dean made a leaping grab of Alex Andreopoulos' liner in the fourth and Shane Monahan made a diving catch to rob Andreopoulos again in the sixth.
"Some pitches I left out over the plate and my defense came through," Hinchliffe said.
Scott Smith broke out of an 0for-12 slump with a single in the second that gave the JetHawks a 1-0 lead.
Smith went to second when Rennhack fumbled the ball, and then scored on Carlos Villalobos' single.
The Ports took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second on RBI singles by Andreopoulos and Bill McGonigle.
But another error by the Ports allowed the JetHawks to score three runs and take a 4-2 lead.
Dean and Monahan started the rally with back-to-back singles.
With one out, Jesus Marquez doubled in between three Ports fielders in left-center field, scoring Dean.
But Monahan also came home when McGonigle's throw went off the chest of second baseman Mickey Lopez in an attempt to throw out Marquez. The ball rolled into foul territory, sending Marquez to third.
Smith followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Marquez with an unearned run and Lancaster had a two-run lead.
The lead increased to three with another unearned run in the fifth.
With one out, Monahan reached on a two-base throwing error by shortstop Dan Klassen. He scored with two outs on Marquez's RBI single on a 1-2 count.
Marquez went 2-for-4 and leads the JetHawks with 92 RBI.
Stockton scored a run in the fifth on Krause's RBI single and again in the sixth on Rennhack's solo home run to cut the lead to 5-4.