By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - For awhile Saturday afternoon, it looked like a game might not be played at The Hangar Saturday night.
Unfortunately for the Lancaster JetHawks, it was.
Because of the regional power outage, the JetHawks management said they would wait until gametime to determine if the game would be made into a doubleheader Sunday afternoon.
At about 7 p.m., the power went on at the stadium. Ninety minutes later, the visitors' dugout could have been turned into a transformer.
They were supplying enough electricity to light the Antelope Valley.
The Mavericks racked up 16 hits and batted around in the second and fifth innings to beat the JetHawks 15-4.
High Desert (27-23) sent 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run second against JetHawks starter Marino Santana en route to a 10-0 lead.
After sending the Mavericks back to Adelanto in shock after taking Friday night's game on a wild pitch in the 11th, the JetHawks were counting on Santana to reverse his second-half fortunes Saturday.
He didn't deliver.
In a curious outing, Santana lasted one full inning, leaving with no outs and the Mavericks up 6-0 in the top of the second as the paid attendance of 5,256 filed into their seats.
Along the way to the shortest outing by a Lancaster starter this season, Santana gave up a tapemeasure home run to Chris Kirgan in the first, and three hits and two walks in the second before being lifted.
Not only did he give up seven earned runs, but Santana also threw a wild pitch and committed an error in the second when he threw a pick-off attempt at second base into center field.
Santana, who entered the game second in the California League in losses with 13, is 2-7 (7-14 overall) in the second half. He hasn't won since July 6 and has a 7.81 ERA over his last five starts, including Saturday's.
Reliever John Daniels didn't fare much better after replacing Santana. He gave up a two-run single to the first batter he faced, Chris Bryant, and two batters later, Bryan Bogle drove in two with a single.
The JetHawks (23-26) gained a little momentum with a four-run third, highlighted by a three-run homer by Jesus Marquez, but the Mavericks sealed the deal in the fifth.
High Desert scored five more times to take a 15-4 lead. Mike Berry's three-run homer was among the six Mavericks hits.
Every High Desert batter had a hit by the end of the fifth, including four who had at least two.
Bryant and Ray Suplee both had three hits in their first four atbats.
Lancaster's Shawn Buhner played in his first home game since coming off the disabled list Thursday. He started at first base and went 0-for-4.
AROUND THE CAL LEAGUE: Modesto's D.T. Cromer, the league's player of the month for July, has a chance to win two-thirds of the league's triple crown. Cromer, a 25year-old first baseman in his fifth professional season, led the league in RBI (108) and was fourth in homers (22) through Thursday. He batted .351 with seven homers and 33 RBI in July, and also had a 22-game hitting streak. And he's played with a special protective mask since June 7 after he broke several bones around his left eye in a baserunning collision on May 24.