Regan stays inside park to lead 'Hawks

Jason Regan's inside-the-park home run sparked Lancaster to victory.

But none of them were anything like his 35th, which came in the first inning of Lancaster's 9-4 victory over Lake Elsinore Monday before 2,012 fans at The Diamond.

Regan came just inches away from belting his 13th home run of the season over the left-center field wall. Instead of clearing the wall, the ball bounced straight back, over the head of Storm leftfielder Juan Rodriguez. The ball continued to bound harmlessly away from Rodriguez and center fielder Michael Colangelo.

"I may have been in my homerun trot a little," Regan said. "But as I was rounding second, I heard (JetHawks manager Rick Burleson) yelling `run, run.' "

By the time Colangelo managed to retrieve the ball, Regan was receiving the the go sign from Burleson at third base. Regan crossed the plate standing up for an inside-the-park home run.

"I had it all the way," Regan joked. "I know I'm not the fastest guy on the team, but when the ball bounces that far. . ."

The inside-the-park home run was the third in JetHawks' history. Chris Dean hit one in 1996, while James Clifford did the honors last season.

Regan's run gave the JetHawks a 2-0 lead. Anton French had already scored earlier in the frame on a ground ball off the bat of Cirilo Cruz Jr. French had reached third base three pitches earlier, when Rodriguez dove for French's flare down the left-field line, and missed, injuring his throwing wrist on the play.

Rodriguez, who managed to continue in the game but left in the eighth, was unable to throw the ball back into the infield, allowing French to race around the bases for a triple.

Lancaster starter Julio Ayala (6-2) managed to make that 2-0 lead stand in the bottom half of the inning - but not without some difficulty.

Colangelo and David Davalillo greeted Ayala with singles on back-to-back pitches before Steve Hagins drew a walk on four pitches to load the bases with no outs.

"I didn't have my best stuff," Ayala said. "I haven't thrown in eight days, and I wasn't throwing my fastball for strikes."

Ayala recovered to strike out Shawn Wooten and Jason Dewey on six pitches. The Lancaster lefthander then fell behind Ryan Kane 3-0, but Kane bailed him out by tapping ball four in front of home plate.

"I was surprised he swung," Ayala said. "It was a fastball that had a little cut to it."

Catcher Francisco Santiestaban fielded the ball and fired to first to end the Storm's threat with the bases loaded.

"That was big," Burleson said. "We scored those two runs, and then loaded the bases. It was like we were going to give them back. But (Ayala) came back and worked his way out of the jam."

The JetHawks rewarded Ayala by adding an unearned run in second courtesy of two Lake Elsinore errors and five more runs in the top of the fourth on five hits and two errors to take a comfortable 8-1 lead.