JetHawks headline Saturday hit parade

Not just lots of hits, but long ones too.

After pounding out 13 hits and four home runs in a July 3 victory over Rancho Cucamonga, the JetHawks threw a near-carbon copy a week later against High Desert.

Thirteen more hits, four more home runs and a solid starting performance by Brandon Parker netted Lancaster an 11-4 victory over the Mavericks before 4,554 delighted fans at The Hangar.

Now all Lancaster manager Darrin Garner has to do is get his team to believe every day is Saturday.

"The first thing that's going to be said (today) is to treat every day like Saturday," Garner said. "I don't know what it is, but we have been hitting real good the last two Saturdays. We got a lot of good swings tonight."

With the win, Lancaster ended a two-game losing skid that had the JetHawks lose by a combined 24-4 score to Modesto. They improved their record to 5-9 on Saturdays, 6-11 in the second half and 29-58 overall.

"We see a lot of friends in the stands," outfielder Alex Fernandez said. "We want to send them home happy. We try hard every day, but it just seems to be working (on Saturday). Now we just got to keep playing that way every day."

The biggest of the four home runs against the Mavericks came in the fourth inning from the team's biggest hitter of late, Patrick Williams. His three-run homer, which cleared the left-center field scoreboard by at least 20 feet, erased a 2-1 High Desert lead and gave the JetHawks an advantage they never relinquished.

"I've seen him hit some longer than that in rookie ball," Garner said. "I've seen him hit some balls that you just shake your head at. That one was pretty long, though. I can't wait to see him get a hold of one when the wind is really blowing."

The impressive blast, which came off starter Matt White (2-6), was the sixth in Williams' 15 games with Lancaster, during which time he's averaged a home run every 9.67 at-bats and driven in 17 runs.

It also jump-started a six-run inning where Lancaster used four two-out base hits, including a tworun triple by Jermaine Clark, to post a 7-2 lead.

Fernandez added his second two-home run game of the season, both of which have come against the Mavericks. Fernandez also hit two blasts at Maverick Stadium on April 20.

"I don't care who's pitching," Fernandez said. "I guess it's just lucky that both have come against them."

The first of his home runs Saturday was a solo shot to center field in the fifth inning, which he followed with a towering two-run blast to right field in his next atbat in the seventh. Both came off reliever Roberto Manzueta.

"The first one was a breaking ball that I went down and got," Fernandez said. "The second one I knew I got it. I got everything I could into that swing."

Fernandez, who also doubled and scored in the fourth on Williams' home run, now has eight homers.

Even catcher Rafael Lopez added a solo home run in the third inning. The opposite-field shot, which he poked over the right-field wall, was his first of the season and gave the JetHawks a 1-0 lead.

"I finally got that monkey off my back," Lopez said. "It was an outside pitch. . . I think the wind may have helped it a little."

Lancaster's lead slipped away in the top of the fourth, when High Desert touched Parker for two runs on four hits. Ryan Owens' triple to right field plated Jack Cust, and Owens scored one batter later on Dan Meier's RBI single.

But those were the only runs Parker would allow, even though the Mavericks managed nine hits off him during his six innings of work. The right-hander struck out five and showed good control, throwing 71 of his 108 pitches for strikes.

"I was impressed with how he threw today," Garner said. "He threw his curveball really well."

Uploaded July 12, 1999