Mistakes continue to hurt JetHawks

Mistakes stand out more and even when you do something positive, it can turn out to be a negative.

For almost seven innings, the Lancaster JetHawks played nearly error-free Wednesday. But two costly mistakes in succession resulted in a 7-6 Lake Elsinore victory before 2,364 fans at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

The loss was the third straight for the JetHawks (10-17), who suffered their second series sweep of the season and fell to 2-10 at The Hangar this year. It was also Lancaster's sixth setback in its last seven games and its 15th loss in the 21 games since the team started the season 4-2.

And like they did in most of the games during that losing streak, the JetHawks' mistakes came back to bite them.

Lake Elsinore broke a 5-5 tie entering the seventh inning on a play that should have been good for the JetHawks but ended up being beneficial for the Storm.

Lancaster reliever Brian Carmody (1-1) got Jeb Dougherty to strike out swinging with a pitch in the dirt for what should have been the third out of the inning. But the pitch got away from catcher Craig Kuzmic, allowing Dougherty to reach base on a wild pitch and Nelson Castro, who opened the inning with a double and stole third, to score the go-ahead run.

Things got worse for Carmody one batter later when he fielded a ground ball off the bat of Nate Murphy and fired over the head of first baseman Greg Connors and into right field. Carmody probably would have been better off holding the ball on the infield hit, as Dougherty scored from second on the ensuing error with the winning run.

Those runs, which gave Lake Elsinore a 7-5 lead, were especially disappointing for the JetHawks after they had rallied from an early deficit.

Lancaster starter Brian Fitzgerald got off to a rocky start when the first five batters he faced came around to score and put the JetHawks in a quick 5-0 hole.

But after allowing a leadoff double to Darren Blakely in the second inning, Fitzgerald settled down to retire the final 15 batters he faced.

The left-hander finished with the five earned runs on six hits and one walk while striking out one in six innings of work.

That performance allowed the JetHawks to come back and tie the game, a rally that was capped off by Connors' solo home run in the fifth inning.

But Lancaster didn't have enough for a second rally. Luis Figueroa singled in Jose Moreno in the seventh inning to draw the JetHawks within one run, but that's as close as they would come. Lancaster stranded two runners in the inning.

Figueroa was the only JetHawk to reach base in the final two innings of the game with his one-out single in the ninth.

Lake Elsinore reliever Scot Shields (3-2) took the win after holding the JetHawks to the one run over the final 3 2/3 innings of the game.