JetHawks go fishing for victory

The JetHawks picked up a win on Father's Day and finished the first half of the season with a 23-48 record

By JON MICHAELS
Valley Press Staff Writer

And that's exactly what the Lancaster JetHawks did, jumping on Lake Elsinore starter Steve Fish for a 7-1 victory in front of a crowd of 3,027 on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, Lancaster (23-48) wrapped up its frustrating first half on a positive note, winning three of its last four games.

Starter Greg Wooten (1-1) pitched his most effective game of the season, throwing eight innings, allowing one run and striking out three in his third start of the season after rehabbing from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow.

"Winning three out of four ends the first half on a good note for us," Wooten said. "I felt like my arm was looser and I felt like I had a lot more command because if it. Coming off surgery, it's the best I've felt."

Pitching coach Greg Harris, who worked with Wooten on his footwork over the last five days, felt that the pitcher's command was the difference.

"Everything fell into place today, he had all his pitches working," Harris said. "When you have the blessing of having all four pitches working you can change speeds and the key was him getting ahead of batters. Getting those early outs."

Offensively, leadoff hitter Jermaine Clark set the pace, going 4-for-4 with a double, three runs scored, a walk and a stolen base.

"These last four days have been really good, even though (Saturday) was a loss, we battled back in the ninth and did some positive things in that game," Clark said. "We definitely have some momentum heading into the second half. Hopefully we can go down to Stockton and take a couple from those guys.

"It shows that when we have quality pitching with defense and timely hitting, we can win in this league."

The JetHawks built a comfortable lead early, cashing in Clark's double in the first inning for a 1-0 lead, and building it to 2-0 on Alex Fernandez's groundout that scored Matt Sachse in the second frame.

In the fourth, Lancaster added two more runs as four hitters reached base with two outs in the inning, highlighted by RBI singles from Cirilo Cruz and Ricky Magdaleno.

"Every other team has been getting two-out hits when they need them on a regular basis, it was good to see us doing that today," Lancaster manager Darrin Garner said. "We were striving to finish the half on a strong note. We were trying to play better baseball.

"Everything is getting better. Today's ballgame was excellent. Outstanding job by Mr. Wooten and we played some solid defense behind him."

Lancaster added two additional runs in the sixth on Cruz's sacrifice fly and another RBI single by Magdaleno. Sachse wrapped up the scoring in the seventh, knocking in Shawn McCorkle, who opened the inning with a double.

Lake Elsinore (30-40) spoiled Wooten's shutout bid in the eighth on Juan Rodriguez's RBI single.