Poor defense the culprit in fateful opening night

Lancaster committed three errors in the first inning to fall into a 5-0 hole, a deficit it failed to overcome in a loss to Rancho Cucamonga.

Three errors in the first inning dug the Lancaster JetHawks a hole they never could claw their way out of as they dropped a 9-7 decision to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes on Friday before an announced crowd of 5,772 at The Epicenter.

Lancaster ended up surrendering five runs in the fateful first frame, only one of which was earned.

"We had one bad inning," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "We gave them too many extra outs."

With the loss, the JetHawks (20-35) dropped 15 games under .500 for the second time in franchise history. Rancho Cucamonga (29-26), meanwhile, extended its winning streak to a season-high four games.

Lancaster entered the game having committed only one error in its last four games. The lone miscue was a meaningless dropped fly ball by Matt Sachse in the fourth inning of Thursday's 10-2 win over Modesto.

But that streak abruptly came to a screeching halt early Friday.

"I think we just lost focus a little bit," Garner said.

Actually, the initial Lancaster miscue in the first inning wasn't recorded as an error.

Clay Snellgrove scored Andy Wilson with the first run of the game with his double off the top of the left-field wall. The relay throw from shortstop Ricky Magdeleno beat Wilson home on the play, but catcher Greg Connors mishandled it, allowing the run to score.

Things got uglier one batter later when Lancaster third baseman Joel Ramirez misfired to first base on an infield single by Alex Pelaez. The resulting error allowed Snellgrove to score and put Lancaster in a 2-0 hole.

That hole got deeper, thanks to two more JetHawks errors. Wilbert Nieves reached base when Ramirez bobbled his ground ball to the left side of the infield. Scott Seal followed him when second baseman Jermaine Clark fumbled a tailor-made double-play ball that would have ended the inning.

Darren Bush made the JetHawks pay for their mistakes with his two-out, bases-loaded double into the left-field corner. The shot cleared the bases and gave Rancho Cucamonga a 5-0 advantage.

Carmody, who was making his second start as a JetHawk and his first against his old team, obviously was frustrated by the turn of events. He struck out the ninth batter he faced in the inning, Chris Briones, to end the Quakes' scoring onslaught, but needed 32 pitches to get through it.

"We just told him to relax and continue to throw ground balls," JetHawks pitching coach Greg Harris said. "There's nothing he can do about it once it leaves his hand."

Carmody (3-3) ended up leaving after two innings, having allowed seven runs, three of which were earned, on five hits and two walks while striking out three. He also took a loss for the first time since May 13 at Lake Elsinore.

The costly opening frame was eerily reminiscent of one the JetHawks had to endure the first time the two teams met May 9. In that game, the Quakes scored five runs in the first inning on six hits and an error charged to starter Joe Victery. Rancho continued to build on to that lead and eventually won 12-4.

Unlike in that game, the JetHawks came back with four runs in the top of the second inning Friday. But once again, they never were able to fully recover from a first inning they would like to forget.

The JetHawks' rally came on the strength of six base hits. Sachse, Clark and Harvey Hargrove all had RBI singles, while Ramirez plated a run with his groundout to second base.

"These guys battled hard," Garner said. "We played a pretty good game after that one inning."

The Quakes stretched the lead back to 8-4 on Nievies' two-run double in the second inning and Snellgrove's RBI infield single in the third.

But Lancaster drew within one run once again with a three-run fourth inning that was spurred by Hargrove's second RBI single of the evening and a two-out, two-run triple to right-center field by Magdeleno.

Angel Aragon (1-2) held off the Lancaster charge to pick up his first victory of the season. Aragon pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one baserunner during the stint on a hit batter.

Shawn Camp got the final two outs for his third save of the season.