'Hawks glad to be home despite failing to sweep

Lancaster lost the final game of a 13-game road trip despite a strong performance by pitcher John Thompson

The longest road trip in Lancaster history, both in terms of number of games and distance traveled, finally came to an end with Thursday's series finale in Stockton. The Antelope Valley probably has never looked as good as it did to the JetHawks early this morning when the bus finally pulled into the parking lot at Lancaster Municipal Stadium after the team spent approximately 36 hours traveling during the last two weeks.

The road trip didn't end the way the JetHawks would have wanted, though, as Stockton held on to avoid a series sweep at Billy Hebert Field with a 2-1 victory before 698 fans despite an outstanding performance from starter John Thompson.

``(Thompson) allowed four hits to leadoff hitters tonight, and three of them were broken-bat singles,'' JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. ``He pitched a great game.''

Lancaster, which opens a sevengame homestand tonight against Lake Elsinore, finished the road trip 5-8 and saw its record in the second half dip to 15-19. The JetHawks could have moved into a fourth-place tie with the Ports in the Valley Division standings with a win.

Lancaster had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning when Chris Dean scored from third on a throwing error by Stockton reliever Bubba Hardwick, trimming the Ports' lead to one run.

The JetHawks proceeded to load the bases against Hardwick, but Fernando Espino grounded into a game-ending double play.

``We had the winning run at second base with one out,'' JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. ``You had to like our chances. The only thing that could have gone wrong in that situation was what happened. But you always like to see them have a chance to win.''

The reason the JetHawks had that chance was because they continued to get outstanding results from their starting pitchers. But this time it may have come from a little bit of an unexpected source.

Thompson, who lost his first two starts earlier on the road trip and entered Thursday with a 16.50 ERA, was almost as impressive as Jason Bond and Joel Pineiro had been the two previous nights.

``I think I might have been a little frustrated after being sent down,'' Thompson said. ``I tried to do a little too much ... Tonight I just went out and tried to use the defense behind me.''

Thompson held Stockton to seven hits and didn't walk a batter in his seven-plus innings of work.

``The main difference was he got ahead of hitters and threw the ball over the plate,'' Burleson said. ``He got a lot of ground balls and kept everybody involved.''

The right-hander was perfect through the first three innings before allowing a leadoff single to Jared Mathis in the fourth. Mathis stole second base and scored one batter later on Kelly Phair's single back up the middle.

That run was the first the Ports scored off Lancaster in the series, as Bond pitched seven innings of a shutout ball Tuesday and Pineiro pitched a complete-game shutout Wednesday. Thompson allowed only one more run in the eighth inning on Jose Colon's RBI double.

``I think this is definitely a game that will boost my confidence,'' Thompson said. ``I still had some confidence after the first two games, but as I said, I think I was trying to do too much.''

Unfortunately for Thompson and the JetHawks, he still ended up losing his third game in three starts. Unlike Bond and Pineiro, Thompson didn't get much offensive support.

As good as Thompson was for Lancaster, Doug Johnston was just as impressive for the Ports. The 20-year-old right-hander from Omaha, Neb., held Lancaster to four hits and three walks in his eight innings of work while striking out seven.

``He changed speeds really well,'' Burleson said. ``He threw his changeup a lot, especially when he was behind in the count ... That really kept our hitters off-balance.''