`Hawks can't contain late Blaze

Bakersfield scored 10 unanswered runs to erase an early 3-0 Lancaster lead

The Lancaster JetHawks, who have beaten the Bakersfield Blaze in seven of the team's previous eight meetings this season, jumped on top with three runs in the first inning and seemed to be on their way to their second series sweep of the Blaze.

But Bakersfield had other ideas.

The Blaze scored 10 unanswered runs to claim a 10-3 victory over Lancaster Monday before 3,068 fans at The Hangar.

"I think, when we were up, maybe we had too much confidence," Luis Tinoco said. "When they came back and scored those runs, then they took the confidence."

Lancaster is off today, before starting a three-game series with Rancho Cucamonga at The Hangar on Wednesday.

"I don't know if we shut it down a day early or what," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said.

The JetHawks, who had committed 13 errors in the previous four games, had only one miscue Monday. But 13 hits, seven of which went for extra bases, and six walks by Bakersfield, the team with the lowest team batting average in the league, burned Lancaster.

"We gave them seven runs tonight," Burleson said.

Josh Tyler led the way by going 3-for-5 with a home run, a double, a run scored and three RBI. Catcher Tim Flaherty and first baseman Zach Wells also had three hits apiece for the Blaze.

It was the JetHawks' offense that did the damage early, though, as Lancaster jumped out to an early lead.

Ramon Vazquez and Cirilo Cruz Jr. got the first inning started off with back-to-back one-out singles, before Jason Regan drew a walk to load the bases.

Tinoco then slapped the ball through the right side of the Bakersfield infield, scoring both Vazquez and Cruz. Regan also scored on a throwing error charged to Blaze shortstop William Otero.

But the JetHawks fizzled at the plate after the first frame, managing only three more hits in the next eight innings.

The Blaze, meanwhile, were just starting to hit.

Bakersfield got on the board in the top of the second, when Tyler deposited the first pitch he saw from Lancaster starter Jason Bond over the left-field fence for a solo home run.

Bond escaped further damage until the top of the third when Bakersfield took its first lead of the three-game series with four runs on three hits.

Zach Wells started the inning with a double into the left-center field gap. He scored three batters later on Dan McKinley's sacrifice fly.

Bond struggled with his control in the frame, as he loaded the bases on three walks. All three runners scored, as Tyler singled in Otero and Jon Valenti, and Bret Casper's infield single scored Flaherty.

"He just couldn't find his location in that inning," Burleson said of Bond. "They got the four walks. . . that inning killed us."

Bond (5-2) lasted 2 2/3 innings and allowed five earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out three.