Quakes steal victory from teeth of 'Hawks

Rancho Cucamonga rallied for four runs off Lancaster reliever Jeff Farnsworth in the ninth inning

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

After taking two of three from the Stockton Ports at The Hangar in a series that featured the two teams combining for 54 runs and 74 hits, the JetHawks had to switch gears Tuesday at Rancho Cucamonga.

For 8 1/2 innings, it looked like they would be able to make that transition.

But after being held scoreless for the first eight innings, the Quakes rallied for four runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to steal a 4-3 victory from the teeth of the JetHawks before a reported crowd of 4,136 fans at The Epicenter.

Darren Bush's two-out RBI single to right field scored pinch runner Matt Halloran from second base with the winning run to cap the Rancho Cucamonga comeback.

"We had that game won," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "For eight innings we had them beat. We just gave it away in the ninth."

The loss, which dropped Lancaster to 11-15 in the second half and 34-62 overall, ruined an outstanding starting performance by Neil Longo. The right-hander held the Quakes to four hits through seven shutout innings before giving way to Jeff Farnsworth.

"I'm happy with the way I pitched, but I would have preferred to win," Longo said. "It's tough when you lose that way. . . I don't know if it deflates us, because we've been playing so well recently. We just have to come out and do the same things tomorrow."

Farnsworth (3-6) also looked strong, pitching a perfect eighth, but couldn't register an out in the ninth inning and ended up blowing his second save in five chances.

Lancaster entered the ninth with a 3-0 lead. But back-to-back singles by Brandon Pernell and Scott Seal got the rally started for the Quakes. Pinch-hitter Wilbert Nieves then drew a walk to load the bases with no outs.

"They got those two singles, bam, bam," Garner said. "The next think you know they have the bases loaded."

That brought up Graham Koonce, who doubled into the leftcenter gap to score Pernell and Seal and draw the Quakes within one run, 3-2.

Farnsworth gave way to Kaye after intentionally walking Alex Pelaez to load the bases once again with no outs.

Kevin Eberwein greeted Justin Kaye with a sacrifice fly to left that tied the game. After Kaye got Clay Snellgrove to pop-up, Bush stepped in.

He laced the first pitch he saw into right field. Lancaster's Alex Fernandez was able to make a strong throw to home, but Halloran was able to barely avoid the tag from Lancaster catcher Rafael Lopez.
Kramer and two Quakes relievers held Lancaster to six hits in the game, but two costly mistakes in the second inning put them in a 2-0 hole.

The first mistake came from Kramer, who threw Jason Regan a 1-0 pitch he hammered over the center-field wall for his seventh homer since joining the team at the all-star break.

The second came two batters later, when left fielder Darren Bush dropped a routine pop-up off the bat of Greg Connors that would have been the third out of the inning. Connors took third on the play and ended up scoring an unearned run on Rafael Lopez's double to the right-center gap.

Connors scored a second unearned run in the eighth on an error charged to Koonce.

Kramer (8-7) struck out seven and walked one in his seven innings of work.

Lancaster found out Tuesday that right-hander Patrick Dunham will join the team out of the Arizona League where he has an 0-2 record and a 9.58 ERA with the Mariners' rookie-level affiliate.

Uploaded July 21, 1999