Lancaster's newcomers earn straight A's

Chris Mears pitched seven strong innings and Patrick Williams hit two home runs as Lancaster beat Modesto

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

After finishing the first half with a dismal 23-47 mark, Lancaster was encouraged by its additions from Class A Wisconsin.

And why not? It was easy to foresee Patrick Williams knocking balls out of Lancaster Municipal Stadium and Chris Mears pitching the JetHawks to victory.

Wednesday night, those dreams finally turned into reality. Mears pitched seven strong innings and Williams belted two home runs to lead the JetHawks to a 9-3 victory over the Modesto A's.

"Mears pitched a heck of a game," Lancaster JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "I think they came into the game and saw his (12.60 ERA) and weren't aggressive. They took a lot of pitches."

Lancaster's win came before 2,765 fans at The Hangar. The JetHawks have now drawn 980,549 fans in their three-plus seasons in the Antelope Valley and need only 19,451 more to reach the one-million plateau.

Lancaster (5-9, 28-56) also avoided falling 30 games under .500 for the first time in franchise history and ended a three-game losing streak with the victory.

The JetHawks can thank Mears, who finally showed the form that helped him go 10-1 during the first half at Wisconsin and earn a spot in Sunday's All-Star Futures Game in Boston.

In his first two starts as a JetHawk, both of which were losses, Mears allowed 14 earned runs on 18 hits and five walks while striking out 10 in 10 innings of work. His 12.60 ERA was more than 10 points higher than the 2.43 average he posted while with the Timber Rattlers.

But Tuesday was a different story.

"This is a game of adjustments and I needed to make some adjustments from my first two outings," Mears said.

Against Modesto, which entered the game as the top-hitting team in the league with a .291 average, Mears allowed only one of the first 16 batters he faced to reach base.

Mears did get in a little trouble in the sixth inning, when he loaded the bases with two outs to bring up the league's second leading RBI man, Jacques Landry. The Modesto third baseman sent a deep drive to left-center field, but Alex Fernandez tracked it down on the warning track.

The A's finally did touch Mears for two runs on a hit batter and two hits in the seventh to draw within 5-2.

The 22-year-old right-hander from Victoria, British Columbia, held Modesto to the two earned runs on six hits, one walk and a hit batter. He also struck out seven and improved to 1-2. Of his 98 pitches in the game, 71 were for strikes.

With Mears taking care of the A's, Williams handled almost all of the JetHawks' offense.

Williams, who entered the game with two home runs in 11 games since joining the JetHawks, blasted an 0-2 offering deep over the right-center field wall for a two-run homer to give the JetHawks a 2-0 lead after the first inning.

"I don't like to get cheated on many swings," Williams said. "When I go up there, I've got one thing on my mind - RBIs."

Although his sixth-inning homer off reliever Wayne Nix wasn't quite as deep, it was hit to nearly the exact same part of the ballpark. And this time it drove in three runs and made the Lancaster advantage 5-0.

Lancaster added four unearned runs in the eighth, thanks in part to Matt Sachse's three-run homer to right field, his fourth of the year.

Modesto stayed in the game thanks to some outstanding pitching by Wagner, who nearly matched Mears pitch for pitch.

After Williams' first home run, Wagner retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced. Joel Ramirez was the only JetHawk to reach base against him with his single, but was thrown out trying to advance on a ball that got away from catcher Miguel Olivo.

Wagner only allowed two hits and a walk while striking out nine in five innings of work.