By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
STOCKTON - The Lancaster JetHawks lost a half-game in the standings but gained in the confidence column Wednesday night.
The JetHawks came back to defeat the Stockton Ports 7-1 in the second game of a doubleheader and earned a split in front of 990 spectators at Billy Hebert Field.
"I think we're seeing how close we really are to winning the first half," said Lancaster pitcher Eric Morgan, who pitched a solid 4 1/3 innings in the second game. "If we can win this first half, then I think that would be a big confidencebuilder."
Lancaster (30-30) is still three games behind the Valley Divisionleading High Desert Mavericks (33-27) with 10 games left to play in the half. The Mavericks led the third-place JetHawks by 2 1/2 games entering play Wednesday.
Wedged in between are the second-place Ports (31-27), who had a three-game winning streak snapped in the second game.
After the Ports scored four runs in the fifth to win the first game going away, the JetHawks returned the favor in the second.
With Morgan giving up just one run and striking out five, Lancaster scored five times in the fifth to take a 6-1 lead.
All the scoring came with two outs. Chris Dean picked up a clutch single off Stockton's Mike Pasqualicchio to score Tarrik Brock with the go-ahead run that broke a 1-1 tie.
Dean said he watched Pasqualicchio's tendencies before his decisive hit.
"He was coming right at the batters with first-pitch fastballs," said Dean, who also had an RBI single in the first game.
Pasqualicchio (0-1) also gave up a run-scoring single to Shawn Buhner and an RBI groundout to Joe Mathis in the fifth.
Morgan started nibbling at the plate in the bottom of the fifth and left after walking two consecutive batters to load the bases.
Denny Bonilla (5-3) pitched out of the jam with no scoring. He struck out Josh Tyler and coaxed Toby Kominek to ground into a force play at second to end the threat.
Morgan said he did not regret missing the victory.
"(Personal) wins aren't important to me," he said. "What's important is keeping my team in position to win. I just want to keep my team on top."
Kominek was the hero in the first game, clubbing a two-run homer that gave the Ports a comfortable 5-2 lead in the fifth.
"I was just trying to get the guy over (to third base)," said Kominek of his third homer. "I just got an inside pitch. I wasn't trying to hit a home run."
Chris Beck (1-4) allowed seven hits and five runs in four innings to take the loss for the JetHawks.
Stockton's Miguel Rodriguez also had a homer in the Ports' fourrun fifth in the first game and went 3-for-3 with a stolen base.