JetHawks become above-average club

Patrick Dunham pitched seven shutout innings and the offense came alive as Lancaster moved above .500 for the first time since April 7.

Neither were the fourth, fifth or sixth times for that matter.

But on their seventh try, the JetHawks finally broke .500 with a 10-0 victory over Lake Elsinore on Wednesday, much to the dismay of an announced crowd of 2,483 fans at The Diamond.

Lancaster (24-23) holds its first winning record since it was 3-2 entering an April 7 game against High Desert.

"I don't know whether it's something to brag about or to shush it up," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said.

It's ironic the JetHawks finally broke through against Lake Elsinore, a team that beat the JetHawks in five of the first seven games they faced off this season. In three of those five losses, Lancaster was looking to move above .500, much like they were Wednesday.

But this time Lancaster refused to be denied.

The recipe for success was another strong start by Patrick Dunham (5-3), a mistake-free game defensively, and the JetHawks' second consecutive offensive outburst.

Dunham was nearly flawless in his seven shutout innings of work, allowing two hits and four walks. He also struck out nine Storm batters. His previous high this season was seven strikeouts in a May 3 victory over Lake Elsinore.

"I found what baseball players call the zone," Dunham said. "Now I've got to work hard to keep in it."

Fifteen of Dunham's final 16 pitches in the game were strikes, as he struck out the side on 10 pitches in the bottom of the seventh.

"Tonight it was key for me to try to use my mechanics to the best of my ability," Dunham said. "I worked on keeping my arm slot the same while I was warming up in the bullpen."

The only time the right-hander was in trouble came in the fifth, when he loaded the bases with a pair of two-out walks and a hit. David Davalillo grounded out to second to end the threat.

"He made the pitch he needed to get out of that jam," Burleson said.

With Dunham on the mound, the JetHawks needed just a few runs to pull out the victory, but they got plenty. Lancaster produced all the runs it would need on Brendan Kingman's two-out double, which scored Karl Thompson and Ramon Vazquez.

Jayson Bass made it 3-0 in the fourth with a solo home run to the deepest part of the park in leftcenter field. The home run was his third of the season.

Jason Regan put the game away for good with one swing of the bat. Lancaster loaded the bases with two outs, thanks to Cirilo Cruz's hit and two walks from Renney Rojas (3-2). Regan unloaded them on the first pitch he saw, which he bounced off the scoreboard in left-center field.

"I was sitting on the fastball on the first pitch," Regan said. "I knew, with the bases loaded, he didn't want to get behind me."

The grand slam was his first of the season and sixth home run of the year.

"Kingman got a big two-out double, and then Regan hit the grand slam with two outs," Burleson said. "Those two hits were the big hits we haven't consistently seen this season."

Lancaster added two insurance runs in the eighth and one more in the ninth.

Following in Kingman's footsteps from the night before, Adonis Harrison went 4-for-5 for the JetHawks' second four-hit game of the season.