Celebration starts, but will it continue?

Lancaster clinched its second consecutive California League playoff berth on the final day of the regular season after holding on for a 7-6 victory over High Desert before the 3,983 fans that braved the 114-degree gametime temperature.

Lancaster finished the season with a 78-62 record, one game better than Modesto's 77-63 mark, to claim the Valley Division's wildcard berth. Lancaster needed the win Sunday to avoid a one-game playoff with the A's, after Modesto wrapped up its season with a 5-1 win over San Jose at John Thurman Field.

Although Lancaster was more than happy to avoid that playoff game and the 250-mile trip to Modesto on Monday, they waited until they were in the privacy of their own clubhouse to begin celebrating the victory and the playoff berth.

"We didn't do our celebrating on the field," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "We didn't dog pile on the mound. We respect High Desert too much to do that."

Lancaster also knows that it hasn't seen the last of the Mavericks (82-58) yet. The two teams square off in the first round of the playoffs, starting at 7:11 p.m. tonight at Lancaster Municipal Stadium. The second and third games of the three-game set will be Wednesday and Thursday at Maverick Stadium. The winner of that series moves on to face San Jose in a best-of-five series for a berth in the Cal League championship series.

"Obviously we're very happy to be in the playoffs," Burleson said. "But we know we're not finished yet. We're not happy just to be here. . . I think this is more a celebration of how things have gone the last three weeks. These guys have played outstanding baseball recently to get to this point. We told them to enjoy it tonight, then take it easy and relax (Monday) and get ready for a big series on Tuesday."

Even though the JetHawks had won 16 of 22 games entering Sunday, they still almost had nothing to celebrate, except another trip to Modesto.

Lancaster built a 7-0 lead behind a productive offense and a solid pitching performance from Brian Fuentes. The JetHawks used four second-inning hits, including Cirilo Cruz's two-out single, which scored Karl Thompson and Anton French to take a quick 3-0 lead.

Jason Regan added an RBI double and Thompson a run-scoring single in the third inning to push Lancaster's lead 5-0. When Regan tripled in Chris Dean and Matt Sachse's bloop single scored Regan, the JetHawks looked like they might be able to enjoy the final two innings of the regular season with a 7-0 lead.

But that outlook quickly changed when the Mavericks awoke and stormed back with six runs in the bottom half of the eighth.

`One minute we're sitting on the bench with a 7-0 lead talking about how nice it'll be not going to Modesto," Burleson said. "The next minute, you start wondering if we're going to come out of here with a win. It all happened so fast."

The High Desert rally started when Juan Bautista, who had only one hit in his first 16 at-bats as a Maverick, belted a 1-0 pitch from Fuentes over the left-center field wall for a solo home run.

Fuentes then allowed a single to Jackie Rexrode and a walk to Jared Martin. He rebounded to strike out Jarrod Patterson before giving way to the Lancaster bullpen, which had been outstanding during most of the last three weeks.

Right-hander Justin Kaye came on to face the middle of the Mavericks' lineup, but immediately began to struggle. He surrendered an RBI single to Rod Barajas and allowed another run to score on the second of his two wild pitches. Kaye left after walking Kevin Sweeney on four pitches.

John Kelly came on to try to stop the bleeding, but he also struggled, allowing an RBI double to John Adams and a single to Jhensey Sandoval, which scored two more runs and brought the Mavericks within one run.

"It's 7-4, and all of a sudden they have the tying run at the plate," Burleson said. "That's how fast a lead like that can slip away. We came back from seven runs down against them (Aug. 22). They almost did it to us."

But Geronimo Newton made sure that wasn't going to happen.

"They told me if there was any trouble, they were going to use me in the eighth or ninth," Newton said. "When we were up 7-0, it didn't look we were going to need that. But then everything started to come apart. . . I was getting (upset) because I was wondering when they were going to put me in - when we were already down. I told them all I needed was five pitches and I'd be ready."

Newton was true to his word. After his hasty warm up, the right-hander needed only two pitches to get Bautista to ground out and end the JetHawks' tailspin in the eighth.

Lining up

A line started forming outside Lancaster Municipal Stadium at 9 a.m. Monday morning, one hour before tickets for tonight's first-round playoff game between the JetHawks and High Desert Mavericks went on sale.

Although JetHawks Media Relations Director Bruce Battle said the team was pleased with how tickets sold Monday, seats are still expected to be available today.

The game will begin at 7:11 p.m., before the series shifts back to Maverick Stadium on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ticket prices are $8 for dugout box, $6 for box seats, $5 for reserved seats and $3 for general admission.

Kingman questionable

Lancaster utility man Brendan Kingman's status for tonight's game is uncertain, after a collision at first base in Sunday's game. Kingman, who started at first base in the game, took a helmet on the right side of his chest during the collision.

Although the native of Sydney, Austrailia, was able to play until being replaced by Chris Dean in the third inning, he said his ribs were very sore after the game. Kingman was expected to see a doctor on Monday.

Leading the way

The loss of Kingman would be tough on the JetHawks, especially considering he won the Cal League batting title with a .340 batting average, which was the highest single-season batting average by a JetHawk in the three-year history of the club. Kingman beat out High Desert's Jarrod Patterson, who finished with a .335 average.

Kingman also finished fourth in the league with 155 hits, fifth with a .524 slugging percentage and tied for third in runs scored with 91.

Cirilo Cruz Jr. fell just three RBI short of matching Modesto's Adam Piatt for the league title with 94 runs driven in. Cruz also finished third in the batting race with a .311 average and led the league with 170 hits.

Jason Regan also finished in the top 10 with a .298 average and finished first with 105 runs scored. Anton French finished third with 41 steals, while Jayson Bass was fifth with 21 home runs.