'Hawks turn to familiar face to nail down victory

With an important game hanging in the balance, JetHawks manager Rick Burleson is forced to go to Kevin Gryboski to hold off a late charge and preserve a precious victory.

For the third time in the last eight days, Gryboski has been able to answer that call.

Gryboski got Jon Macalutas to ground into an inning-ending double play in the eighth inning, then held Stockton to only one infield single in the ninth to pick up his fifth save of the season in an 8-6 Lancaster win on Sunday.

"I feel good that (Burleson) wants me in there in those situations," Gyrboski said. "I want to be in there. I want to be the one to get the double play or the big strikeout."

Gryboski came in to relieve John Kelly (4-4), who settled down after a rough sixth inning.

Kelly allowed three runs on five hits in the sixth, as Stockton came back to erase a three-run Lancaster lead and tie the game, 6-6.

Kelly threw a perfect seventh, before allowing a one-out single to Josh Klimek in the eighth. Sergio Guerrero reached on an error charged to shortstop Ramon Vazquez.

"We would have liked to get (Kelly) through the eighth, but when they got two guys on, we went with Kevin," Burleson said. "John had given us some pretty good middle innings, but it was a gut feeling. As it turned out, the move worked."

Gyrboski got Macalutas to send a bouncer to Vazquez, who atoned for his mistake by starting a threat-ending 6-4-3 double play.

That play preserved Lancaster's tworun lead, which they built in the bottom half of the sixth.

Fernando Espino opened the sixth with a triple and scored on Joel Ramirez's sacrifice fly. The fly ball was misplayed in left field, allowing Ramirez to reach second base. He didn't stay there long, though, as Brendan Kingman singled him in.

Ramirez, who returned from Class AA Orlando Aug. 10, also singled in two more runs in the second inning, giving him three RBI in the game.

"I didn't know they were going to send me down," said Ramirez, who started the season with Lancaster before a July 2 promotion. "Now that I'm here, I want to win. Last year I was here and got a taste of the playoffs. Now I'd like to get a ring."

Hungry, Hungry Hipo

Even when he's not in Lancaster, Modesto's Hipolito Martinez finds a way to burn the JetHawks.

Martinez, who hit five home runs in a three-game sweep of Lancaster Aug. 3-5, hit a two-run homer to give the A's a 7-6 win over Lake Elsinore on Sunday.

That win kept Modesto even with the JetHawks in the race for the Valley Division wild-card race with matching 68-59 overall records.

Lake Elsinore entered the bottom of the ninth inning with a 5-4 lead and the bottom of the 10th with a 6-5 advantage, but couldn't hold either, much to the dismay of the JetHawks.

Breathing room

Although Lancaster couldn't move ahead of Modesto, the JetHawks may have effectively ended Stockton's playoff hopes. The Ports (63-64) entered Monday trailing Lancaster and Modesto by five games with 13 to play.

"Our key coming in was to win the series," Burleson said. "When we lost the first game, we knew the worst thing that could happen was being swept. If we could win one game, all they could do was pick up one. As it turns out, we picked up a game on them."

That means the Valley Division wild card will once again come down to Lancaster and Modesto, just like it did last season. The A's and JetHawks tied last year and were forced to go to a one-game playoff to determine who received the playoff berth. Lancaster won that game 3-0.