By CHRIS BRANAM
Staff Writer
LANCASTER - The Lancaster JetHawks were on the way to their third blowout loss in four days befoe a bomb threat forced the suspension of the game in the ninth inning Tuesday night at The Hangar.
After the remaining crowd of about 2,500 was evacuated, JetHawks General Manager Matt Ellis confirmed that the team had received a bomb threat at The Hangar.
"We received a bomb threat and we don't want to take any chances," Ellis said.
A paid attendance of 5,050 watched Rancho Cucamonga score eight runs in the second inning. It was the second time in three games a Lancaster opponent has scored eight runs in an inning.
The JetHawks committed more errors, seven, by the fifth than they had in any entire game this year.
And just when the JetHawks look like they might climb back in and make a game of it, the Quakes rallied again to take a comfortable lead.
The Quakes scored on Rick Gama's RBI single in the second to cut a 3-0 JetHawks lead to 3-1. Then came the inning from hell, if you're a JetHawks fan.
Rancho Cucamonga sent 12 batters to the plate, with eight scoring, to take a 9-3 lead.
The JetHawks committed three errors in the rally, including two by Jason Cook, who was starting at shortstop for the first time in three games.
The Quakes actually had five hits in the inning, including run-scoring singles by Juan Melo, Antonio Fernandez and Randy Curtis, all against Lancaster starter Brett Hinchliffe.
Gary Matthews Jr.'s triple down the right-field line drove in two and gave the Quakes an 8-3 lead, and Hinchliffe left after walking Vince Moore, who
led off the inning with a single.
It was Hinchliffe's shortest outing of the season, 2 1/3 innings, but only two of the nine runs he gave up were earned.
James Clifford gave Hinchliffe a 3-0 lead in the first on a basesloaded double off the scoreboard in right field. Clifford loves hitting against the Quakes; the hit gave him a .353 average and 18 RBI against them this season.
He also drew a walk in the middle of the JetHawks' three-run third that chased Quakes starter Brett Walters.
Chris Dean had an RBI single and Shane Monahan a two-run double as Lancaster gained back a little momentum and cut the lead to 9-6. Monahan reached 91 RBI with the hit and became the second JetHawk to reach the 90-RBI mark this season (Jesus Marquez entered the game with 98).
It wasn't a good night to be a Brett, because Walters not only took a line drive off the chin (Marquez nailed him on an infield single in the first), but he also couldn't last three innings.
Walters was replaced by Hal Garrett after he walked Jason Cook with two outs in the second.
The JetHawks continued to pile up the errors in the fourth. New pitcher Eric Clifford threw the ball away at first on a comebacker by leadoff hitter Melo.
And then Dean threw wildly on the back end of an attempted double play that allowed Fernandez to reach base.
Even though the Quakes didn't score in the fourth, the JetHawks had tied their season high with six errors.
That record came tumbling down in the fifth. Scott Smith misplayed Moore's run-scoring single, allowing him to go to second.
Dusty Allen added a ringing RBI double off the left-field wall that made it 10-6, and with Clifford still pitching, Leroy McKinnis drove in the Quakes' 11th run with a single up the middle.
The Quakes had 13 hits by the end of their three-run fifth, and every batter had at least one hit except for catcher Ben Davis.
Moore, the last player remaining in the San Diego system in the trade that sent Fred McGriff to Atlanta in 1993, was the standout, reaching base in each of his first five at-bats.
His solo homer in the seventh was his fourth hit and gave the Quakes a 13-6 lead.