By CHRIS BRANAM
Valley Press Staff Writer
ADELANTO - A flu bug made its way around the Lancaster JetHawks clubhouse last week.
But while most of the team was coughing and wheezing, they were also winning. That feeling was put on hold Monday night.
High Desert avoided a series sweep with a 6-5 win over the JetHawks in front of a paid attendance of 1,287 at Maverick Stadium.
The JetHawks, who had won three in a row and seven of eight, dropped to 12-6 in the second half despite two homers from James Clifford.
"After you win two (in a row) and you jump out 4-1, you want to the third," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "I would have liked to win all three here."
Lancaster looked like it was going to get its third straight strong outing from a starter, but Javier Gutierrez gave up three runs in the decisive fifth inning.
Gutierrez (1-1) survived a shaky start - he gave up a unearned run in the first when he didn't come up with a throw at first on a grounder hit by Garry Maddox - to hold the Mavericks pretty much in check over the next four innings.
Jason Goligoski singled and scored on Mike Stoner's 27th double of the season in the fourth, and that's when Gutierrez's control started slipping.
He walked two in that inning to load the bases but came back with a strikeout of Rod Barajas to end the threat.
Then he walked three in the fifth, including Maddox and Goligoski, who both scored. An RBI single by Ron Hartman gave High Desert a 5-4 lead.
That was it for Gutierrez, who ended up with five walks and only two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
"He struggled the whole game," Burleson said. "You've got to give a guy an opportunity to get through something."
Hartman was partly responsible for the 4-2 lead the JetHawks took into the fifth. He committed two errors in the fourth, the second of which allowed Joel Ramirez to score from third.
The JetHawks took a 1-0 lead in the first when Joe Mathis led off with his 11th homer. Mathis, who also doubled in the sixth, has hit a homer in four straight games.
High Desert starter Joe Verplancke was very shaky in the first. He gave up a double to Jason Regan after Mathis' homer, and with two outs and two on, Josh Watts singled home Regan.
Clifford increased the JetHawks lead to 3-1 in the third with his 18th homer. He also homered off reliever Chris Michalak in the seventh to cut the Mavericks lead to 6-5.
"You can get all the solo homers you want, but you're not going to win the game," Burleson said.
Barajas redeemed himself for the fourth-inning strikeout with a solo homer in the sixth off Brian Sweeney. That was his fourth homer in only 16 games with High Desert.
Brett Backlund (1-0) earned the win with two scoreless innings in relief. Dave Tuttle picked up his 15th save with a scoreless ninth.