'Hawks let win get away in ninth

Lancaster closer Justin Kaye was on strike away from a save when a bases-loaded single brought home the game-tying and gamewinning runs for Bakersfield

By DAVE RASBACHr

Valley Press Staff Writer

The Lancaster JetHawks flirted with disaster for as long as they possibly could Sunday against Bakersfield. In fact, they were only one strike away from stealing a victory they probably didn't deserve.

But in the end, Lancaster got burned by the Blaze.

Jeff Allen's two-out, bases-loaded single off JetHawks closer Justin Kaye drove in the game-tying and game-winning runs in the ninth inning as Bakersfield came back to grab a 4-3 victory and disappoint 3,884 Lancaster faithful at The Hangar.

"This is a tough loss," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "If we could have held on, it would have been a great win, but we lost it in the ninth inning. I know I feel bad and these guys feel bad."

The loss was the second in a row for the JetHawks (16-28), who have now lost five of their last seven.

But entering the ninth inning, it appeared the JetHawks were going to sneak away from the sunny Sunday afternoon with a victory.

That was in spite of a performance by starter Brandon Parker that was below the high standard he had set through his first eight starts and the fact that the JetHawks had been out-hit 11-4 entering the final inning.

"We battled the entire game," Garner said. "They made a few mistakes that we took advantage of and we were in position to win it. We just lost it in the ninth inning."

The fact that the JetHawks did lose the lead in the ninth may have been a bigger surprise than that they were in a position to do so.

Clinging to a 3-2 lead, the JetHawks sent Kaye (2-1), who had converted all six save opportunities entering the game and had even won two extra-inning affairs, to the mound.

It looked like Kaye's dominance would continue, as he got Xavier Burns to bounce back to the mound for an easy putout on his second pitch of the inning.

But then John Summers laced a double into the right-field corner. Kaye followed by walking Cody Ransom on five pitches, but seemed to have the game in hand when he got Arturo McDowell to fly out to Harvey Hargrove in center field.

But four straight balls to Steve Hill loaded the bases with two outs and brought a visit from pitching coach Greg Harris.

Kaye jumped ahead of Allen by making him swing and miss at his first two pitches, and needed only one more strike to put the game away. He wasted a pitch high to make the count 1-2.

"He was a little erratic today, but he put himself in a position to get the job done," Harris said.

Kaye couldn't finish that job off. His 1-2 slider to Allen didn't have it's usual sharp break, allowing the Bakersfield right fielder to line it into left field and score pinch runner Joel Fuentes and Ransom and give Bakersfield the win.

"Nine out of 10 times, he's going to come through for us," Harris said of Kaye. "But he can't be perfect."

Blaze reliever Keith Connolly (3-1) got the win, but starter Chad Zerbe was the pitcher of the game.

After allowing the JetHawks to tie the game with two runs in the second and take the lead in the third when Greg Connors singled in Cirilo Cruz, Zerbe retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

In fact, the Lancaster offense produced only two walks in the final six innings of the game.

"We didn't hit the ball as well as I thought we should have," Garner said.

Despite not having his best stuff, Parker left in line for his fifth win, holding the Blaze to two runs on nine hits and six strikeouts in five innings.