Veteran Regan sets off early fireworks in win

Lancaster halted its five-game losing streak behind Jason Regan's pair of three-run homers

By BRIAN GOLDEN
Valley Press Staff Writer

In Lancaster, though, Jason Regan is rockets, bells and Fourth of July r fireworks two days early.

The JetHawks infielder slugged a pair of three-run homers Thursday night to help Lancater sap a five-game losing streak with a 14-7 defeat of the rampaging Rancho Cucamonga Quakes with 2,861 watching at The Hangar.

The two home runs give Regan 44 in a JetHawks uniform, second only to the career mark of 45 hit by James Clifford, currently the Seattle Mariners' minor league conditioning coordinator.

Seattle sent Regan back to Lancaster from Class AA New Haven at the midseason recess. He had hit just .213 in a designated hitter role, and was sent to fill in for the injured Luis Figueroa at third base.

"I want to show Seattle that I shouldn't be in the Cal League," said Regan, who spent is offseason in Lancaster before leaving to get an early start on spring training. "I want to show them they should give me me chance to play third base up there."

Harvey Hargrove drilled a home run off the batters' backdrop in center field, and Greg Connors and Shawn McCorkle each collected three hits in the 18-hit Lancaster assault.

Rick Guttormson, the Cal League's winningest pitcher (9-3), took the loss for the Southern Division leaders, who went 23-3 in the month of June. The loss was the first by a Rancho starter since May 30.

Lancaster scored 14 runs in a game for the third time this season and piled up 18 hits in a game for the second time.

Regan's first three-run shot erased a 2-0 Quakes lead in the second inning. A double by McCorkle following a Connors triple and a walk to Peanut Williams seesawed Lancaster back in front for good in the fourth inning.

Connors and Williams cracked run-scoring singles in the fifth to build an 8-5 lead.

After Rancho clawed back to within a run at 8-7, Lancaster batted around and scored six runs in the seventh.

McCorkle picked up another RBI single to go with Regan's three-run homer and the two-run blast two batters later by Hargrove.

"Our offense is picking us up right now," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "Our pitching is struggling but our offense is keeping us in games."

Regan came up again with the bases loaded in the eighth inning but went down on strikes.

June booms are nothing new to Regan. He first arrived in Lancaster two years ago at this time and hit 22 home runs in the second half of the season to help the club secure its first-ever Cal League playoff berth.

Greg Wooten (2-1) was the beneficiary of Regan's pyrotechnics, giving up three earned runs on nine hits in the first five innings.