JetHawks start road trip strong

Lancaster got off to a good start on what could prove to be its most crucial road trip of the season with a solid win at San Jose.

Friday, the JetHawks returned to Municipal Stadium hoping to kick-start a second-half playoff run.

Lancaster started the longest road trip in team history off on the right foot with an 8-3 win over San Jose before 1,460 disappointed Giants fans.

"We're still just trying to win every series we play," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "If we can do that, things will take care of themselves."

Lancaster moved back to .500 in the second half, evening its record at 11-11 with the win.

The JetHawks, who will play 13 games on the road in 14 days, know that they must be successful on the trip if they have any hopes of claiming one of the two remaining playoff bids from the Valley Division.

"If we come off a disastrous 13-game road trip, you could be in trouble," Burleson said. "But if you come off it .500, you could be right where you started with 40 games left to play."

Unfortunately for Lancaster, that important trip started in the JetHawks' own personal House of Horrors from the first half. San Jose took advantage of every Lancaster mistake to sweep the June 1-3 series and all but clinch the Valley Division first-half title.

Friday, the JetHawks limited the mistakes to one inning and got some outstanding pitching from starter Jason Bond (6-3), who struck out 10 in 5 1/3 innings of work, and reliever Pete Janicki, who picked up his first Cal League save of the season by pitching 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

The Lancaster offense also got things going, scoring at least one run in six innings and pounding 12 hits off three San Jose pitchers.

Lancaster jumped on top in the second inning when Jason Regan drew a leadoff walk and Jayson Bass drove the first pitch he saw from San Jose starter Ben Tucker the other way into the visitor's bullpen in left field for a two-run home run. The blast was the ninth of the season for Bass.

But much like they did the last time the teams met in San Jose, the Giants took advantage of Lancaster's mistakes in the bottom of the third to steal the lead from the JetHawks.

Angel Melendez belted a 3-1 offering from Bond into center field. Anton French started in on the ball, but had to break back as the line drive sailed over his head for a leadoff double.

Melendez ended up scoring on the JetHawks' second mistake of the frame and their first error of the game. With two outs and runners on first and second, Tony Zuniga sent a tough ground ball toward Ramon Vazquez at shortstop. Vazquez charged the ball, but had it get by him and roll into left-center field.

That play allowed Melendez to score from second and Michael Byas to reach third base.

Giuseppe Chiaramonte ended up driving in both Byas and Zuniga with a hard-hit single into left-center field. All three runs in the inning were unearned, giving San Jose a 3-2 lead.

"We opened the door for three runs in that one inning, but we settled down and played pretty good," Burleson said. "It was nice to see us start to eliminate some of the mistakes."

But it was Lancaster that came back to tie the game in the top of the fourth on an unearned run of its own.

"They don't make many mistakes," Burleson said. "It was nice to see our guys take advantage of it once they did."

Bass led off the inning with a double to the base of the wall in right field and scored with two outs when San Jose shortstop Carlos Mendoza short-hopped a ball to first base attempting to retire French.

Lancaster reclaimed the lead an inning later when Vazquez drew a leadoff walk and scored on Regan's single into left field.

Karl Thompson, had possibly the biggest hit of the game, when he blooped a two-out, bases-loaded single in the seventh inning into shallow right field to score Cirilo Cruz Jr. and Regan to increase the Lancaster cushion to 7-3.

"That was a big hit," Burleson said. "That really seemed to make the guys relax."