Red-hot Bass pushes JetHawks into first place

Jayson Bass hit two home runs as Lancaster rallied to defeat San Bernardino

But it certainly hasn't kept him out of the lineup. Or from coming up with the big hits when he's in the lineup.

Bass hit two home runs, including a game-tying three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth Monday night. Bass, however, grounded out with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, which sent the game to extra innings, tied 9-9.

Lancaster entered the eighth inning trailing 9-5, but Francisco Santiestaban rocketed a solo home run to left field to draw the JetHawks within three runs.

Ramon Vazquez walked, but was thrown out at second on Cirilo Cruz's ground out. But Cruz avoided the double play and advanced to third when Brendan Kingman doubled down the left-field line.

That brought up Bass, who hit a solo blast to right field in the fifth inning. Bass went the other way this time, poking his 18th homer of the season over the leftfield fence.

That wasn't the only big threerun homer for the JetHawks Monday. Visalia's Rob DeBoer hit a game-winning three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to help the Oaks beat Modesto, 5-3. The A's loss gave the JetHawks a halfgame lead in the Valley Division wild-card race.

Bass' heroics were needed after San Bernardino took the lead in the top of the seventh off Lancaster reliever Brian Fitzgerald (0-3) with two runs on three hits.

Nick Leach opened the frame with a single to center field that was misplayed by Anton French, allowing Leach to take second base.

He scored two batters later when the Dodgers' No. 1 pick in last month's draft out of Rice University, Bubba Crosby, singled into left field.

Crosby also scored an insurance run from second base, when Ismael Gallo legged out an infield single. Crosby rounded third, and homeplate umpire Michael Jost ruled that he beat the tag from Lancaster catcher Santiestaban at home plate.

The call brought an agitated argument from Rick Burleson, which resulted in the Lancaster manager's fourth ejection of the season, but first at home.

Santiestaban tied the game, 5-5, in the sixth inning when he reached base on an error charged to San Bernardino second baseman Ken Morimoto. Santiestaban took third on a wild pitch and scored when Morimoto over threw Leach at first base attempting to double off Cruz after Kingman lined out.

Sanitestaban's run took his battery mate, starter Joel Pineiro, off the line for his first loss in the Cal League.

Pineiro won his first two starts in Lancaster, allowing only one earned run in his first 16 innings of work. But he's been unable to grab a victory since. He hasn't taken a loss either, though, during that stretch.

In his five starts since he won those first two games, Pineiro has seen his ERA swell to 6.57. But until Monday, the 19-year-old right-hander managed to avoid taking the loss.

With the exception of Rich Saita's first-inning solo home run, Pineiro coasted through the first three inning Monday.

Lancaster rewarded him by staking him a 3-1 lead, thanks to Brendan Kingman's solo home run in the bottom of the first and two runs on three hits in the second.

But Pineiro's lead suddenly vanished when Ricky Bell, the youngest son of Detroit manager Buddy Bell, blasted a three-run home over the left-center wall to give the Stampede a 4-3 lead.

San Bernardino continued to give Pineiro trouble in the fifth, when Nick Leach drove in Saitta to make the scor 5-3 and loaded the bases with another single and a walk.

Jose Gonzalez came in to pick up the final out of the inning and keep the JetHawks within two runs, though, and Jayson Bass's solo homer to right field in the bottom of the fifth got Lancaster back to within one run.
VP-03/23/03-04:27:18