JetHawks 'Cruz' to wild-card lead with late heroics

Cirilo Cruz's two-run double in the ninth inning put Lancaster in the driver's seat in the wild-card race.

After driving in only two runs in his last 11 games, the Lancaster first baseman had seen his Cal League RBI lead dwindle to nothing, as both Modesto's Adam Piatt and High Desert's Jarrod Patterson tied him for the league lead with 97.

"I have had a few opportunities when I didn't come through," Cruz said. "Maybe I put too much pressure on myself."

But that changed Friday night as Cruz drove in all three Lancaster runs, including the game-tying and game-winning runs in the bottom of the ninth, as Lancaster grabbed a 3-2 victory over High Desert before 5,061 delighted JetHawks fans at The Hangar.

"He's definitely had some big hits for us this year," JetHawks manager Rick Burleson said. "But I don't think any of them were bigger than that one."

With the come-from-behind victory, the JetHawks reclaimed a one-game lead in the Valley Division wild-card race with eight games remaining in the regular season. Modesto lost 6-5 to San Jose at Municipal Stadium.

"Any win at this point of the season is big," Burleson said.

Lancaster, which had struggled offensively throughout Friday's game, finally got things going with one out in the ninth.

Jayson Bass went the other way with a 1-2 pitch from Mavericks reliever Russell Jacobs (3-1) to start the rally, then stole second base and took third on a wild pitch. Jason Regan, who scored the winning run, drew a walk and stole second base uncontested.

That brought up Cruz, who had driven in Bass with the JetHawks' only other run of the night on a fourth-inning ground ball.

"He leads the league in RBI for a reason - he can hit," Burleson said. "He's got a lot of big hits for us this season."

But probably none of them were as big as the double he sent over Jamie Gann's head in center field on a full-count pitch from Jacobs. With the tying run standing on third base, the Mavericks' outfield was drawn in on the play.

"I really don't know how I did it," Cruz said. "It just happened."

Part of the reason may have been that Cruz felt relaxed at the plate.

"Rick told me just to relax and have some fun," said Cruz, who eclipsed the 100-RBI mark in a season for the first time in his career. "Everyone's been telling me that."

Much like they did in the series opener Thursday night, the JetHawks got solid starting pitching, but struggled to get much of anything going offensively early in the game.

Following in the footsteps of Julio Ayala a night earlier, Jordan Zimmerman was outstanding Friday. The left-hander, who was making his second start since joining the JetHawks out of rookie-level Peoria, went six innings, allowing seven hits and walking two.

"Jordan pitched real well for us tonight," Burleson said. "So did (reliever Geronimo) Newton."

High Desert only got to Zimmerman in the third inning when John Adams led off with an infield single and Gann hit a floating two-run homer over the right-center field wall.

Newton pitched three scoreless innings to improve his record to 3-0. He allowed only one hit and two walks while striking out four.

"I think our guys realized tonight that we can play with this team if we just execute," Burleson said. "I think we did a good job of that."

High Desert starter Ben Norris frustrated the Lancaster offense early, though, holding it to only one run on four hits in the first five innings. Jacobs continued to keep the JetHawks off-balance in the next three innings until the ninth-inning rally.

In fact, until the final inning, Lancaster had more than one runner on base at the same time in just the fourth inning.