'Hawks rebound from blown leads

They had to do it three times.

Even though Lancaster blew a five-run lead in the sixth inning and a two-run advantage in the ninth, the JetHawks managed a 9-8 victory over the Oaks. The win completed the team's first series sweep of the season and kept them five games back of Valley Division-leading San Jose.

The JetHawks hoped to start cutting into that lead with an important three-game series in San Jose that started Monday.

Sunday's win came courtesy of Michael Moore's two-out, ninthinning double, which flew over the Oaks' drawn-in outfield and banged off the left-field wall. Marcus Sturdivant, who was pinch running for Luis Tinoco, scored the winning run from second base on the play.

"I was looking for a curveball (on the first pitch)," Moore said. "They got me out the last two times on curveballs, so I was just hoping they'd give me one I could hit."

Moore's heroics wouldn't have been needed if Lancaster had held on to the 8-6 lead it took into the ninth inning.

It appeared Allan Westfall was going to do just that, as he retired the first two Visalia batters he faced in the frame. But Mike Koerner laced a double into leftcenter field, before former JetHawk Davis Skeels sent an RBI double down the right-field line.

Skeels scored the tying run on Juan Camilo's single up the middle.

"It would have been debilitating if we had lost that game in the ninth," Moore said. "With two outs, I thought we had it closed out and I was getting ready to celebrate."

The JetHawks might have been guilty of celebrating too early with a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning.

Jason Regan drove in Joel Ramirez with a ground ball in the first inning, before Moore crushed a solo home run to left-center field in the second. Adonis Harrison added a third run in the third on Brendan Kingman's single, and Kingman and Regan both scored in the bottom of the fifth.

Patrick Dunham, meanwhile, didn't have one of his better outings, but still managed to hold the Giants scoreless through the first five innings. It appeared he would pick up his seventh victory of the season.

But Brian Sweeney, who has been outstanding for the JetHawks both as a starter and reliever, had his first poor outing of the season in relief of Dunham. He allowed six runs on four hits and two walks. Only one of the runs was earned, but Sweeney couldn't get the third out of the inning, as San Jose took a 6-5 lead.

"I think you saw how fast you can lose a lead in this ballpark," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "It would have been a big disappointment to this team to be up 5-0 and lose the game."

Lancaster waited until the seventh inning to respond with a three-run home run from Jayson Bass, which not only erased the Oaks' one-run lead, but gave the JetHawks a two-run cushion.

"We had to come back three times to win it," Burleson said. "I think these guys rose to the occasion and battled back real well."

Receiving a scare

Harrison and Ramirez collided on an ugly play in the top of the seventh inning on a slow bouncer hit back up the middle. Both middle infielders made a play for the ball and ran into each other right in front of second base.

Ramirez managed to glove the ball and throw to first to retire Skeels, but Harrison went down and was in obvious pain. He left the game under his own power, but with a noticeable limp, and was replaced by Ramon Vazquez.

Burleson said Harrison received a bruise on the bone in his left knee, an injury that often feels more serious than it is because it is so close to a nerve.

The JetHawks' second baseman was back in his normal slot at the top of the Lancaster lineup in Monday's game.

Tearing it up

Kingman picked up his second four-hit game of the season, belting four singles in his first four at-bats. Kingman struck out in the ninth inning, but still picked up two runs scored and an RBI. He increased his league-leading batting average to .377.