League's top team shuts out JetHawks

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

But with the A's outstanding offense and pitching, the only problem is staying with them for an entire game, let alone an entire season. One mistake can cost a team.

The Lancaster JetHawks had the unenviable task of playing the best team in the California League six times in seven days.

Though the JetHawks managed to stay close early in the first two games, they were unable to keep pace Saturday night with a team that possesses the baseball equivalent of a fast-break offense.

For the second consecutive night, a Modesto scoring spurt broke open what was a close game and gave the A's a 9-0 victory over Lancaster before 3,249 fans at John Thurman Field.

"This team is good," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "You can't afford to make mistakes against them, because they will hurt you."

The win was the A's ninth straight and improved their record to a league-best 36-14. The JetHawks, who have only nine wins in the month of May with one game remaining, lost their second in a row and dropped to a leagueworst 18-32.

Much like it did Friday, when the JetHawks reached the seventh-inning stretch in a 3-3 tie with Modesto but watched the A's blow open the game with three runs in bottom of the seventh and three more in the eighth, Lancaster kept the game close in the early innings Saturday.

But all of the credit for that has to go to starter Jason Turman, who got little help from his offense.

Lancaster was shut out for the third time this season by a trio of Modesto pitchers, including Elvin Nina (4-1), who held the JetHawks scoreless through six innings on six hits and three walks.

"We don't have the guys in our lineup to come back from six runs down right now," Garner said. "We can't let a team get ahead of us like that."

Starter Jesus Colome, who struck out the side in the first inning after returning from a sore forearm, Nina and Jake O'Dell combined to strike out 10 JetHawks and allowed only seven hits.

Although he pitched well, Turman was no match for that kind of pitching, especially considering he was facing the best offense in the Cal League.

Turman allowed a leadoff triple to Esteban German, who scored one batter later on a sacrifice fly by Chris Cosbey. Eric Byrnes also singled and scored a first-inning run on a wild pitch to make the score 2-0.

"That first inning was kind of tough, because my ball got up," Turman said.

But Turman (1-6) did a great job of keeping the A's off the scoreboard and his teammates in the game by retiring the next 13 Modesto batters he faced. Five of those outs came via the strikeout.

It wasn't until Jesus Basabe pounded his sixth home run with two outs in the fifth that Turman yielded an inch.

"That's been my problem. . . I'm doing good, and then all of a sudden my ball gets back up on me," Turman said. "They're the type of team that can take advantage of that."

The home run opened the floodgates, as five of the next six Modesto batters grabbed base hits, and four of them scored.

That was too much for the stagnant Lancaster offense to overcome. The JetHawks left nine runners on and had another two thrown out attempting to steal.

Lancaster's best scoring opportunity came in the seventh inning, when Shawn McCorkle and Harvey Hargrove opened the frame with back-to-back bloop singles. Matt Sachse drew a one-out walk, but the JetHawks left the bases loaded.