Comeback win staves off sweep

Craig Kuzmic celebrated his 22nd birthday with a two-run homer, helping Lancaster avoid being swept by Stockton.

But Lancaster catcher Craig Kuzmic, who turned 22 Sunday, did the shopping himself. Fortunately, he was able to share his gift and the celebration with the rest of his JetHawks' teammates.

Kuzmic hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth inning to spur his team to an 8-4 victory over Stockton before 1,533 fans at Billy Hebert Field.

"I was just glad I could help my team out," Kuzmic said. "We really didn't want to lose three in a row to Stockton."

With the win, the JetHawks (10-14) not only avoided the series sweep at the hands of the Ports, but also halted a three-game losing slide and wrapped up a 2-4 road trip to the league's two northern-most cities with a positive spin.

The team returns to The Hangar for three games against Lake Elsinore starting tonight.

Sunday's win certainly didn't come easily for the JetHawks, though, as a number of their old nemeses came up and bit them.

"They had to battle for this one," Lancaster manager Darrin Garner said. "I was very pleased to see them come away with a win today."

Like they did in their three most recent losses, Lancaster drew first blood, scoring two runs in the second inning.

But just like in those three losses, the JetHawks watched the lead evaporate with a couple of costly mistakes that led to Stockton runs.

The Ports drew within one run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Alexander Fernandez committed his first error of the season, dropping Nick Caizzo's fly ball to right field. That error moved Mark Cridland to third base, and allowed him to score an unearned run on Jason Fox's sacrifice fly.

Stockton tied the game one inning later with the benefit of another error.

After walking the first two batters of the inning, Lancaster starter Brandon Parker fielded a sacrifice bunt attempt by Scott Sollmann and threw high to third base, pulling Figueroa off the bag, while trying to force out Chris Rowan. Rowan ended up scoring a second unearned run on a ground ball by Jared Mathis.

The Ports made the comeback complete one batter later when Jon Macalutas singled in Garret Osilka to give Stockton a 3-2 lead.

"Even after all those mistakes, we stayed positive," Garner said. "We weren't like, `Here we go again.' You can't think like that. You have to think you can win every game."

If any doubts had crept into the JetHawks' mind after the Ports' comeback, they would have been quickly erased in the top of the sixth when Shawn McCorkle singled with one out and Kuzmic blasted his second home run of the season over the right-center field wall.

"We really didn't get down after they came back," Kuzmic said. "We just all started fighting for each other and pulling for each other to do well. . . I was just glad that I could do something to help the team."

Kuzmic's homer, which came on a 2-0 count, gave the JetHawks a 4-3 lead and the momentum for the first time in the series.

"We made our share of mistakes," Garner said. "But these guys never got down. If we stay within two or three runs, this team can come back."

The JetHawks continued to add to the lead in the seventh when Luis Figueroa and Mike Marchiano drove in runs, and added some insurance in the ninth when Jermaine Clark, who went 3-for-5, and Joel Ramirez crossed the plate.

Brian Carmody (1-0) picked up the victory by throwing 2 2/3 innings of effective relief of Parker, allowing one earned run on two hits and a walk while striking out two.

Donnie Schmidt and Justin Kaye pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, respectively.