JetHawks' lineup earns straight A's in blowout

Lancaster set team records with 24 runs and 23 hits as it shellacked Modesto on a cool. breezy night

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press June 7, 1998.

By BRIAN ROBIN
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER - They violated the cardinal rule of blackjack, did the Lancaster JetHawks.

They hit on 20.

Of course, the JetHawks also hit on 23, 22 and 21. They hit on 19. And 18. Not to mention 17, 16 and every number south.

Saturday night at The Hangar, they hit on all numbers and all cylinders, treating the bundled-up crowd of 4,023 to a record-setting 24-3 poleaxing of the Modesto A's.

"I said before the game it was going to be like this," Lancaster manager Rick Burleson said, noting the 40 mph gusts buffeting the flags in left field and the light standards along the third-base line.

"This is only one win for us and only one loss for them. That's all."

Technically, he's right. But in a game like this, you gotta crunch the numbers.

The 24 runs and 23 hits are both team records, breaking the 20 runs and 22 hits racked up last April 29 against Bakersfield. Not coincidentally, that's the last time the wind howled through The Hangar like it did Saturday.

The JetHawks scored in every inning but the seventh. They batted around in the fifth (six runs on five hits), sixth (five runs on three hits) and eighth (six runs on five hits, with four of those hits doubles).

Every JetHawk starter had at least one hit, drove in at least one run, and every starter scored at least twice.

Designated hitter Cirilo Cruz went 5-for-6 and - counting his hit-by-pitch and fielder's choice - reached base on all seven trips.

"We wanted to bury these guys," he said. "These guys could come up and start hitting. That's why we have to play the game like this. Keep hitting until they stop us."

They never did.

Both Joel Ramirez (2-for-4, three runs) and Anton French (2-for-4, two runs) drove in four for the winners.

"Just unbelievable," shortstop Ramon Vazquez said. "This is the first time I've been in a game like this. To score 24 runs, is unbelievable. It's like a college game."

Better, since unlike the aluminum-sponsored USC-Arizona State fiasco in the College World Series title game, the JetHawks went au naturel on the Athletics with the wood.

Led by Vazquez's first homer of the season in the first, the JetHawks batted for the cycle in the first three innings. One inning later, Marcus Sturdivant took care of the triple. Jason Regan accounted for the double in the bottom of the third, the first of three.

Regan's third double came as part of that six-run eighth - an inning that featured doubles by Regan, French, Cruz, Ramirez and Karl Thompson. Thompson, Ramirez and Cruz hit theirs off reserve infielder and former High Desert Maverick and bullpen-saver Mike Wolff.

Wolff couldn't save the Modesto defense, which committed five errors. That made the bundled-up fans at The Hangar forget the JetHawks committed a franchise-record five miscues of their own.

For the Athletics, who entered Saturday night with 107 errors in 62 games, this was par for the series. Modesto's night afield gave it 11 errors in the three games with another contest today at 2 p.m.

"We've been on the other end of these," JetHawks pitching coach Jim Slaton said. "We know how quick it could change."