By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - It was a game that inched to a conclusion.
But with a quick flick of the wrists, Shawn Buhner provided an exciting conclusion to the Lancaster JetHawks' 6-5 win over High Desert Saturday night at The Hangar.
Buhner drove home Yuni Kim from third base with a ringing, two-out, ninth-inning single to center field off Mavericks reliever David Tuttle, providing a spark of electricity for the paid attendance of 4,238 before a post-game fireworks show.
"(Tuttle) was coming after me, that's all," said Buhner, whose hit came on a 3-2 pitch. "He was just saying, `Here it is, hit it.' "
After the ball made it through the infield, Buhner jogged to first base with the burden of a slow start seemingly lifted off his shoulders.
After hitting well enough in spring training to nearly make the Mariners' Class AA club in Memphis, Buhner was just 1-for-11 to start the season before his gamewinning hit.
"It was long overdue," he said. "For some reason, I just haven't been swinging the bat like I had. It was nice to hit a ball on the line somewhere."
Buhner's hit gave the JetHawks (2-1) a series win over the Mavericks and also gave reliever John Thompson (1-0) a victory in his second appearance of the season.
After striking out the first two batters in the top of the ninth, Thompson overcame an infield single, bloop single and walk to induce Mike Boughton to hit into a forceout with the bases loaded.
Leaving runners on base seemed to be the key element of a game that featured 25 hits, including 13 by High Desert.
The Mavericks left 14 on base, and the JetHawks stranded 10. Both teams left the bases loaded in two separate innings.
Dusty Wathan's solo homer gave the JetHawks a 5-4 lead in the fourth.
Trailing 4-3, the JetHawks scored one run - but should have had more - in the bottom of the third to tie the game.
Despite sending seven batters to the plate, Lancaster scratched across a run when High Desert's Matt Marenghi walked Luis Molina with the bases loaded.
That was with only one out. Neither Joe Mathis, who popped out, nor Chris Dean, who grounded out, were able to give the JetHawks a lead.
Dean did his part to help the cause, however, with three hits and a run scored.
The Mavericks had a rally of their own in the top of the third, scoring three times against JetHawks starter Aaron Scheffer to take a 4-3 lead.
High Desert benefited from two passed balls by catcher Wathan and a wild pitch by Scheffer in the third. Bo Durkac had an RBI single and Reggie Davis drove in a run with a double to highlight the rally.
Scheffer, who was taken out after Davis' hit, wasn't very sharp in his first start of the season. In 2 innings, he gave up seven hits, walked two and threw 68 pitches.
Scott Emerson, the Mavericks' starter, wasn't much better. He was removed after walking Wathan to lead off the third.
On a night that wasn't kind to pitchers early on, Emerson gave up four hits, walked three and hit a batter.
After Wathan's homer had given the JetHawks a 5-4 lead, the Mavericks promptly tied the game against Scheffer's replacement - the newly-acquired Joe Victery - in the top of the fifth on Davis' RBI groundout.
Victery didn't last very long. He was taken out later in the fifth after giving up a two-out single to Garry Maddox and replaced by Sean Spencer, the other pitcher the JetHawks picked up Friday.
In his professional debut, Spencer struck out Boughton with runners on first and third to end the threat.