With a homer hat trick,
Hagins pounds JetHawks

Steve Hagins hit three home runs as Lake Elsinore pounded Lancaster, 12-4.

Extended spring training? How about extending the JetHawks' miseries at The Hangar?

This is what Hagins did, welcoming the JetHawks home after a 10-game road trip with a season-high three home runs. Meanwhile, he and his Lake Elsinore Storm teammates introduced themselves to the 4,148 Lancaster fans with a 12-4 beating of the JetHawks Friday night.

"We get to .500 and it looks like we're afraid to be better than that," Lancaster manager Rick Burleson said. "It takes a little bit of guts to be better than mediocre and maybe we're not ready to get there yet."

If anyone was ready to get here, it was Hagins, who met the Storm in Bakersfield last Tuesday from extended spring training in Arizona. There, the former San Diego State star was re-learning how to throw a baseball after not catching for five years due to a congenital heart defect.

"I wanted to prove, not offensively, because I know I'm pretty good hitting the ball. But I wanted to come out and prove that I can come out and catch every day in the minor league system," said Hagins, who has four home runs in five games since his promotion.

He certainly didn't need a hitting primer. Hagins, who entered the game hitting .500 (3-for-6) with a triple and home run, was an equal opportunity ERA shredder. He hit a three-run homer off Lancaster starter Kevin Gryboski in the second, a solo shot off Julio Mateo leading off the fourth and another solo blast off Russ Koehler in the fifth.

And Hagins brought plenty of company. Greg Morris began the barrage three batters into the game with a two-run shot. Jeff Guiel proceeded Hagins' third homer with a two-run blast in the fifth.

Hagins' third homer, a rope over the 410-foot sign in left-center, made it 10-1.

The loss, Lancaster's ninth in 14 home games, came via 12 Lake Elsinore hits and five home runs.

With all that, the Storm was merely taking their act south from Bakersfield, where they doused the Blaze for 30 runs (19 for extra bases) and 41 hits in a three-game sweep.

Into this meat grinder, enter Gryboski, who was strafed for six runs and five hits in 1 2/3 innings. Koehler fared little better, allowing five hits and five runs in a season-long four-inning stint.

"He was behind to everybody, he got some pitches up," Burleson said of Gryboski. "Same with Koehler, behind and pitches belthigh and they just whaled on them."

Besides the JetHawks' ERA, somebody was going to pay for this. That somebody was Lake Elsinore shortstop Nelson Castro, who found himself taking two for the team. Gryboski's first pitch after Hagins' first homer beaned the Storm's No. 9 hitter in the top of the helmet.

Castro laughed that one off. He wasn't as amused two innings later when Mateo drilled him in the same place. Burleson wasn't amused either - after plate umpire Ryan Bleiberg tossed Mateo out of the game.

As Storm players were perched on the top step of the dugout, Burleson argued the ejection, to no avail.

In the seventh, Hagins' bid for No. 4 died in left fielder Luis Tinoco's glove a few steps short of the warning track.