Miscues plague JetHawks

Lancaster struggled in every aspect of the game as Bakersfield snapped the JetHawks' two-game winning streak

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

Hitting, pitching, defense. . . they all looked nearly flawless Sunday.

But as has been the case most of the season, it was too good to be true.

Mistakes in almost every aspect of their game cost the JetHawks dearly in an 11-6 loss to the Bakersfield Blaze before 2,512 fans at Lancaster Municipal Stadium on Monday.

"That's been the most frustrating thing for me this year," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "We show flashes that we can play a complete game and get a good game in all three areas. But we haven't done it in back-to-back games yet. There has been no consistency."

Despite outhitting the Blaze 10-4 in the first seven innings and 11-10 for the game, Lancaster committed three errors, walked five batters, hit two others, threw three wild pitches and was charged with two passed balls. In the process, they allowed runs to score on a wild pitch, a passed ball, a basesloaded walk and a bases-loaded hit batter.

With all those mistakes, it's no wonder Bakersfield finished with more runs than hits and came away with the win despite playing a relatively ugly game itself.

"We made mistakes in every area," Garner said. "We didn't make the plays we needed, and we didn't make the pitches we needed."

The JetHawks, who had a twogame win streak snapped on the final outing of a five-game homestand, dropped to a minor league-worst 37-72 overall and 14-25 in the second half.

The good news is today is an offday before the team heads to Lake Elsinore to start a four-game road trip.

"I think it is good for us to have an offday," Garner said. "We need to put this behind us and move on. All we can do is keep going."

The JetHawks dug themselves an early hole with a poor exhibition of pitching and fundamental defense in the first four innings.

Two Bakersfield hits, two Lancaster errors and a wild pitch by Russ Koehler netted the Blaze a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Koehler's second wild pitch of the evening allowed Cody Ransom to move from first base all the way to third after his leadoff single in the third. Ransom made the Blaze lead three runs on Sammy Serrano's RBI ground out.

Koehler and the JetHawks continued to struggle in the fourth, when the first two batters reached base on a walk and an error charged to catcher Patrick Williams for catcher's interference. Both runners scored without the benefit of a base hit in the inning to make the Bakersfield lead 5-0.

Koehler (0-3) left after threeplus innings, having allowed three earned runs on three hits, two walks, two hit batters and two wild pitches.

Lancaster finally answered in the bottom of the fourth with three consecutive extra-base hits.

Williams got things rolling with a double to left field. Alex Fernandez then tripled him in with a shot into right field.

Jason Regan put the finishing touches on the rally with his opposite-field home run just over the right-field wall to draw Lancaster within two runs, 5-3.

The blast, Regan's third in as many nights, tied him with Williams and Greg Connors for the team lead with 11 on the season. Both Williams and Regan joined the team at the all-star break.

Bakersfield put the game away in the eighth, though, with five runs on four hits and a walk charged to Jeff Farnsworth in a third of an inning. Jeff Allen got the big inning started with a solo home run.

Uploaded August 3, 1999