Hot Ayala propels `Hawks to win

Julio Ayala gave one run in seven innings as Lancaster held on for a home victory over Bakersfield

LANCASTER - Hours before Cam Smith would leave the Lancaster JetHawks for Class AA Orlando, he left his soon-to-be former teammates with a memorable farewell card - a two-inning, six-strikeout, roller-coaster of a save.

One that preserved Lancaster's 3-2 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze in front of 4,003 fans at The Hangar Saturday night.

Smith, who learned about his promotion late Friday night, finished off the Blaze for starter Julio Ayala (7-2).

All Ayala and his plethora of offspeed pitches did was tease the Blaze for seven innings of one-run ball. After a rough, 21-pitch first inning, Ayala settled down and struck out seven. He threw only 67 pitches over the next six innings.

"He got a lot of ground balls and when he's right, he gets a lot of ground balls and strikeouts in the dirt," Lancaster pitching coach Jim Slaton said.

That pretty much summed up Ayala's night as it provided a frightening contrast to the Bakersfield hitters as to what was coming up next. Already last in the league in hitting (.238, a full 10 points out of ninth place) and hits (646), the Blaze were ready to drive Smith to the airport.

Not that Smith didn't make it interesting. His last Lancaster hurrah started in the eighth, with the JetHawks holding a 3-1 lead.

After striking out Jon Valenti opening the inning, Smith hit Tim Flaherty, then walked Zach Wells. Matt Priess followed with an RBI single to center that sent Wells to third.

Enter pinch-hitter Chad Faircloth, who exited three futile waves of the bat later. That brought up Brett Casper, who went down on a 1-2 fastball that Smith couldn't stop talking about after the game.

"That was the hardest ball I ever threw in my life," Smith said. "That ball felt so good coming out of my hand. If I could throw that hard all the time, I'll be in this game for a long time."

No wonder. It left a 97-mph vapor trail past a helpless Casper, one of two pitches that hit 97 on the gun.

"Cam Smith has the chance to go all the way to the top in this game with the stuff he's got," Lancaster manager Rick Burleson said. "He's improved in the short time he's been here.

"He throws 96 miles per hour with a breaking ball that buckles right-handed hitters. I think the door's wide open for Cam Smith."

Not for the Blaze on Saturday night, although they scratched at it like a cat wanting back inside.

Smith made it interesting in the ninth, blowing away Pedro Mota and William Otero before yielding an infield single to Dan McKinley and a 3-2 walk to Valenti.

Back came Flaherty, who waved at a 96 mph fastball for strike three. Slaton said the slowest of Smith's fastballs in the ninth clocked out at 95.

"Usually when you strike out six guys in two innings, you feel like you dominated. But I feel like I escaped tonight," said Smith, who joined the JetHawks on May 26 on an injury rehab from Orlando.

The offensive escape hatch came early, after Lancaster rolled out two runs in the second on Francisco Santiesteban's single. The insurance came in the third, via Jayson Bass' RBI double to the right-center gap.