By BRIAN ROBIN
Valley Press Staff Writer
ADELANTO - The Lancaster JetHawks survived two home runs and four RBI from Mike Stoner.
They survived a game-tying RBI single from Stanton Cameron, he of the 27 home runs, including the game winner Friday night.
But they couldn't survive Jamie Gunn and his .221 average and 31 RBI.
RBI No. 32 is the reason the JetHawks wake up this morning in a three-way tie for first place in the Valley Division. Gunn's 32nd RBI, via an eighth-inning double, sent the High Desert Mavericks to a 6-5 victory over the JetHawks at Maverick Stadium Saturday night.
So the JetHawks find themselves finishing the three-game series at the Cal League equivalent of Coors Field tied with Modesto (8-6 losers to Bakersfield) and the Mavericks. All are 26-17.
And all because the JetHawks couldn't survive Gann or six walks, five issued by starter Jason Bond. This had Lancaster pitching coach Jim Slaton seething after the game.
"A big reason we lost tonight is right there," he said, pointing to the "base-on-balls" column on his chart. "We walked six tonight and three scored. Last night, we walked nine. That's 15 in two nights.
"Walks is what kills you in this park and at The Hangar. Home runs are part of the game here and at The Hangar. You just try to avoid baserunners."
Naturally, this is how the winning run scored - Bo Durkac wangling a one-out walk off reliever Bryan Sweeney (5-2). Pinch runner Scott Glasser did the honors, scoring on Gann's RBI double to the gap in left-center.
The 4,209 in attendance watched Lancaster take a 5-4 lead in the fifth on Jason Regan's 17th homer of the season. Regan nearly put the JetHawks ahead again in the ninth. But his two-out blast went to Maverick Stadium's Death Valley - a.k.a. right-center - the deepest part of the park.
Maddox ran it down 400-plus feet away to end the game.
Then, they watched the JetHawks give it back. Reliever Rafael Rivera broke a string of 40 consecutive innings without a Lancaster error by committing two in the seventh inning. First, he allowed Garry Maddox Jr.'s ground ball to go between his legs.
Then, one sacrifice later, Rivera was tabbed with an error for having his pickoff throw go off second baseman Regan's glove and into center field.
Rivera partially atoned by picking Stoner - who he intentionally walked after the second error - off first. But Cameron scooted a single into short right.
Friday night, the JetHawks didn't concern themselves with Stoner, who leads the Cal League in five offensive categories. They walked him four times in five trips. Saturday night, Bond was more audacious.
And he paid for it. Quickly. Stoner wasted little time staking the Mavs to a 1-0 lead, golfing Bond's first-inning offering into the subtle left-field jet stream and over the wall.
While Bond could blame the capricious Adelanto jet stream for Stoner's first homer, he had only himself to blame for the second. Bond began the third inning by striking out Gann and Junior Spivey.
That was Bond's highlight of the inning. He continued by walking Maddox and Jason Goligoski, digging himself a hole that Stoner wasted little time throwing dirt on.
He lined Bond's first pitch over the second wall on the right-field berm for a three-run homer that gave the Mavs a 4-3 lead.
This angered the JetHawks in general and Lancaster manager Rick Burleson in particular. Maddox took off for second and appeared to be thrown out by three feet. But base umpire Ramon Armendariz thought otherwise.
After the game, Burleson was incensed about that call, pointing out that instead of an inning-ending caught-stealing, Stoner drove in his 108th runs of the year with the liner to right.
But Bond left with a 5-4 lead, courtesy of a three-run third and solo runs in the fourth and fifth.
David Skeels singled to right. Luis Molina singled to center, taking second when Stoner misplayed the ball trying to short-hop it. Joe Mathis (2-for-4, three RBI) followed with his two-run double into the left-field corner.
Mathis drove in his third run in the fourth, singling home Molina to tie the game at 4. Molina reached on a bunt single, once again advancing to second on an error - this one being when Mavs' pitcher Joe Verplancke thre the ball into the JetHawks bullpen.