By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
LANCASTER - They grew up thousands of miles way from each other.
Joe Mathis, the native of South Carolina who was born in a small town and still lives in a small town, got things going with a bang.
Jason Regan, who comes from the middle of the proudest state in the union, Texas, where the weekly neighborhood barbecue seems to have been written into the state's constitution, continued his unlikely power display.
And Yuni Kim, a Korean who moved to Japan and then America pursuing the dream to play Major League Baseball, getting not one, but two balls up in the jetstream to right field.
All of them came together to put the spark in the Lancaster JetHawks' 12-8 victory over the Modesto A's Friday night in front of a record paid attendance of 7,024 at The Hangar.
A virtual melting pot of sluggers. What a country.
"The second half, we've been playing well," said Mathis, the resident of Johnston, S.C. (pop. 2,688). "It seems like everybody's coming together."
Everybody on the JetHawks needed to come together on the this Independence Day. After falling behind early, the A's (11-4) responded with four runs in the second.
The JetHawks, who had jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first in a burst that began with Mathis' leadoff homer and ended with a two-run homer over the right field fence by Kim, needed another jump-start.
They got it from Regan, who followed Mathis' triple with a two-run homer, his seventh in just 14 games with the team.
The homer came off Modesto's Flint Wallace, who gave up seven earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings.
"The wind just took it," said Regan of his low line drive that cleared the wall in center field. "I was sitting on a slider and he hung it."
Three batters later, Kim ripped his second homer of the game, and 11th of the season, to right field.
"It's nice to see him get something going," Lancaster manager Rick Burleson said of Kim, who had just two homers since April before Friday. "He's looked pretty poor at the plate. He doesn't have to hit home runs, he just has to hit the ball well."
With all the hitting, the JetHawks also needed to get something from their bullpen.
Damaso Marte started and went just 2 2/3 innings. He was relieved by Jason Bond, who came in and gave up three runs in 3 2/3 innings.
He left after walking the first two hitters in the seventh. Brian Sweeney came on and after walking the leadoff batter, got two outs to get out of a jam.
"Bond did a nice job," Burleson said. "The bullpen came in and picked up Marte."