Rally falls short as JetHawks lose to Mavs

Lancaster's loss to High Desert, coupled with Modesto's win, dropped the JetHawks into a tie with the A's in the Valley Division wild-card race

But for six innings Thursday, Lancaster, the top team in the league in terms of both batting average and runs scored, was held to little more than a whisper by High Desert's Nick Bierbrodt.

The Mavericks built a five-run lead and held on for a 6-4 victory over the JetHawks before 4,597 disappointed fans at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

"These guys are very good," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "To beat them, we have to have everything working for us - great pitching, flawless defense and big hits."

Lancaster designated hitter Jayson Bass hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the JetHawks a chance to stage another comeback, but the rally fell short.

"He's come up with a lot of big hits for us," Burleson said. "He got us back in the game with that hit."

High Desert clinched a spot in the Cal League playoffs with its ninth-straight win. The Mavericks are now playing for home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

While High Desert locked up a playoff spot, the JetHawks fell back into a tie with Modesto in the Valley Division wild-card race. The A's were 4-0 winners over San Jose at Municipal Stadium.

"We're in the wild-card race," Bass said. "We have got to come out and swing the bats."

Things didn't start badly for the JetHawks. The first Lancaster player to come to the plate, Ramon Vazquez, opened with a double down the right-field line. However, that was one of only two hits Lancaster managed in the first six innings.

"We didn't get many hits in the first six or seven innings," Burleson said. "You're not going to get a win against a team like this when you have trouble doing that."

While Bierbrodt wasn't necessarily overpowering - five strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings - he did a good job of getting ahead of hitters and forcing them to hit his pitches.

Bierbrodt put 11 Lancaster batters in 1-2 or 0-2 holes and threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 29 batters he faced. He used that advantage, plus the solid defense behind him, to keep the highest-scoring offense in the league silent through the first two-thirds of the game.

"He pitched well," Burleson said. "He mixed all three pitches and kept our hitters off-balance."

Lancaster never put more than one runner aboard in any inning until the seventh, when Jayson Bass and Jason Regan opened with back-to-back singles. Anton French pulled an RBI single through the right side of the High Desert infield to score Bass from third.

By that point, High Desert already had a 5-0 cushion.

Lancaster starter Julio Ayala also pitched well, but was overshadowed by Bierbrodt, who was charged with one earned run.

"Ayala really pitched a pretty good game," Burleson said.

The JetHawk left-hander allowed two unearned runs in the third, both of which came with two outs.

After Adam Nuebart singled, Julius Matos reached base when Regan had a grounder slip under his glove. Jarrod Patterson singled in Nuebart before Kevin Clark doubled him in. Clark also doubled in Patterson in the fifth inning to make the score 3-0.

It stayed that way until Nuebart tripled in Jared Martin and scored another run on Patterson's sacrifice fly in the seventh.

Ayala was charged with five runs, three of which were earned, on nine hits in his 6 2/3 innings of work. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter.