'Hawks stumble in race

Stockton's No. 9 hitter, Sergio Guerrero, who had only six RBI entering the game, knocked in three runs to beat Lancaster.

And now he has nine RBI for the season. A 50-percent increase in one hot night in Lancaster. Not bad for a No. 9 hitter.

Unless you're the JetHawks, who tired quickly of Guerrero's act, did little with Stockton starter Jose Garcia and went down with an 8-3 loss in the opener of a three-game series at The Hangar Friday night.

"We're not going to win many games when we're only getting six hits," Lancaster manager Rick Burleson said. "It's that time of the year when you've got to get those big two-out hits if you're going to keep going."

Which the JetHawks didn't. Of Lancaster's nine stranded runners, six were left in scoring position.

And speaking of positions, the JetHawks find themselves in a familiar one.

Combined with Modesto's 8-2 pummeling of Lake Elsinore, the loss drops Lancaster (66-59) one game back of of the A's for the Valley Division's wild-card berth with 15 games remaining.

Stockton (63-62), meanwhile, draws within three games of the JetHawks.

By now, the JetHawks have to wonder why they can't take care of business against the teams requiring such attention - Modesto and Stockton. Over the past three weeks, Lancaster took three out of four from Rancho Cucamonga, swept Visalia and took two out of three from league doormat Bakersfield.

The debit side of the ledger, however, isn't pretty. There's Modesto's three-game sweep at The Hangar 10 days ago, and the loss to the Ports Friday.

"We were still in the game, all the way until they got the three in the eighth inning," Burleson said. "It's still a two-run ball game. It wasn't as bad as the outcome looked. We're in the game all the way until the eighth inning."

About that eighth inning. . . it started with singles by David Elliott and Miguel Rodriguez off reliever Justin Kaye.

A fielder's choice by Greg Schaub (2-for-4, two runs) erased Elliott, but Jeff Alfano walked.

Up came Guerrero, who drove in Rodriguez and Schaub for his third RBI of the night.

Behind Guerrero's improbable heroics, the Ports gave Brian Fuentes his first loss of the season at The Hangar. Fuentes, who came into Friday night 4-0 at home, allowed five runs and nine hits in his seven innings.

Garcia, meanwhile, allowed Ramon Vazquez's triple and Chris Dean's sacrifice fly and subsequent dropped ball by center fielder Elliott in the first. And he allowed Anton French's sacrifice fly in the second and Matt Sachse's home run in the sixth.

In between, he struck out six and scattered five hits for his 11th win of the year.

Stockton answered all that with four in the top of the second. Elliott walked, went to second on Rodriguez's slow groundout and came home on Schaub's bloop double down the left-field line.

Schaub's hit came about because left fielder Brendan Kingman was playing Schaub toward left-center. Singles by Alfano and Guerrero followed, with the latter scoring Schaub.

Alfano came home on Jared Mathis' sacrifice fly to center. Guerrero scored the inning's final run on Chris Walther's double.

The Ports added another in the fourth, letting Lancaster do most of the heavy lifting. Or in this case, skipping.

Which is what Rodriguez's grounder did off third baseman Jason Regan's glove. Rodriguez stole second and - two out and a walk to Guerrero later - scored on Mathis' single to center.