`Hawks treat fans to thriller

Double in 13th ends busy night

The 3,013 JetHawks fans who originally purchased tickets to Thursday's game against San Bernardino to see the antics of the Famous Chicken, received a few extra treats.

The Chicken wasn't the only nationally-known baseball personality at Lancaster Municipal Stadium, as Dodgers reliever Antonio Osuna started the game for the Stampede on what will prove to be his final stint in a three-game rehabilitation assignment.

As if that weren't enough, San Bernardino second baseman Brett Illig turned what was officially scored as the third unassisted triple play in California League history in the bottom of the third inning.

Oh yeah, and by the way, there was a game too. And what a game it was.

The JetHawks ended up winning it 2-1 in the bottom of the 13th inning when Mike Marchiano doubled in Jermaine Clark from first base with his fourth hit of the night.

"It was a great game," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "They battled, we battled. It was a lot of fun."

But with everything going on, it was easy to overlook the wellplayed game.

The Dodgers certainly weren't overlooking the first two innings, though. Los Angeles General Manager Kevin Malone and Assistant General Manager Bill Geivett both attended the game to observe the progress of Osuna, who had a bone spur removed from his right elbow in September.

"We wanted to see how close he was to getting back to the big leagues," Malone said. "We wanted to see how he looks."

Obviously Malone and Geivett were impressed, telling the 25year-old Mexican native that they plan to bring him back in time for this weekend after his two innings of work Thursday.

Osuna threw 28 pitches in those two frames - 20 for strikes - and allowed a first-inning double to Marchiano and a second-inning infield single to Alexander Fernandez. He also struck out two.

"I feel strong," Osuna said. "I'm ready for the major leagues and I'm going (today) to San Diego."

Malone hinted that a trade might be made to make room for Osuna on the major league roster, but would not discuss with which team or any players that might be involved.

Once Osuna left the game, things really started to get interesting.

The first two JetHawks to face Osuna's replacement, usual San Bernardino starter Steve Colyer, reached base in the bottom of the third inning. Ramon Valera drew a walk and Clark reached on an error, giving Lancaster runners on first and second with no outs.

That brought up Harvey Hargrove. With the count 2-1, both Valera and Clark ran on the pitch. Hargrove lined a hard-hit shot toward the right side of the San Bernardino infield.

Illig, who was breaking toward second base in response to the runners, had to lunge to his left to snare the ball on the fly for the first out. The second baseman then only had to step on the bag to double up Valera for the second out and tag Clark, who already was standing on second base, for the third out and a piece of history.

There was some dispute over whether Illig flipped the ball to shortstop Eric Riggs for the final two outs, but the play officially was ruled an unassisted triple play.

With the ruling, Illig, who was converted to second base two weeks ago after playing 41 games at shortstop with the Stampede last year, joins Central Valley's Neifi Perez and Rancho Cucamonga's Gabe Alvarez as the only men to register an unassisted triple play in Cal League history. Perez made the first against Bakersfield on May 9, 1994, and Alvarez's came at High Desert on June 28, 1995.