Everything goes wrong for 'Hawks

Stockton jumped out to a big lead in the first inning and easily beat Lancaster

The Lancaster JetHawks' starting pitchers entered Wednesday's game having allowed only one earned run in 26 innings over their previous four games.

The Ports made them pay for their pitching prosperity.

The unlucky recipient of Stockton's wrath was Brian Fuentes.

Fuentes allowed six runs on four hits and three walks in the first inning, and the JetHawks never recovered as they lost 10-2 before 895 fans at Billy Hebert Field.

"We out uglied them tonight," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "It was one of those games that reminds you you're still in `A' ball."

The eight-run loss was the JetHawks' most lopsided defeat of the season. Their previous worst was a 13-8 setback to Rancho Cucamonga on April 5 at The Hangar.

Unlike that game, when the JetHawks held a 7-2 advantage after four innings, Lancaster was never in Wednesday's game.

Five of Stockton's six first-inning runs, which were all earned, scored before Fuentes retired the first batter. The first out was Greg Schaub's sacrifice fly to left field which scored Josh Klimek. Only one pitch earlier, Klimek sent Fuentes' 1-1 offering down the right-field line for a triple that cleared the bases.

Fuentes (0-1) followed Schaub's sac fly with a strikeout of Chris Walther. However, he surrendered back-to-back walks and was forced out of the game after only two-thirds of an inning.

Reliever Albert Derenches, who was making his JetHawks debut, walked the first batter he faced, but got Jon Macalutas to fly out with the bases loaded to mercifully end the frame. Stockton sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.

Stockton, which came into the game leading the Cal League with a .274 team batting average, pounded the JetHawks for 15 hits. Klimek led the way, with four hits and four RBI. In addition to hitting for three-fourths of the cycle with a single, double and triple, he also scored twice.

The JetHawks picked up 10 hits, but only managed to score once in the third and once in the fifth. Lancaster left 12 runners on base, a new season high.

"When we did hit the ball hard, it would land right in front of one of their fielders, and we wouldn't be able to take the extra base," Burleson said. "It was almost like we needed four base hits in an inning to score a run, and we didn't get that fourth hit."

Lancaster nearly grabbed an early lead in the top of the first, when Adonis Harrison drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on an error and a ground ball. Harrison then tried to score on a weak ground ball by Brendan Kingman in front of the plate. Stockton retired Kingman at first base before tagging out a sliding Harrison at home on the delayed play.

"That's a good play if you make it," Burleson said. "But if you're tagged out at home, it's not a good play. We've got (Luis) Tinoco, our No. 5 hitter, coming up."

Harrison got another chance to score in the third, when he picked up a leadoff single. He ended up scoring on a wild pitch from Stockton starter Brian Passini, but Passini (1-2) got Jason Regan to line out to second base, ending the inning with runners on second and third.

Harrison scored the JetHawks' only other run of the game in the fifth when he drew a leadoff walk and crossed home plate on Kingman's infield single. Once again, Lancaster squandered an opportunity to score more runs as they left the bases loaded.

Stockton added to its lead, as three of Lancaster's four relievers were tagged for at least one run.

"It was an ugly game," Burleson said. "We made some mistakes. Hopefully we'll learn from them and bounce back (tonight)."