'Hawks can't continue pace

One night after Lancaster scored 27 runs on 28 hits, Lake Elsinore was able to earn a little revenge.

By DAVE RASBACH
Valley Press Staff Writer

Less than 24 hours after their high-octane offense set one California League record, tied another and established six new franchise marks, the JetHawks seemed to have almost nothing left in the tank.

The offense that was running like a finely tuned engine Sunday, managed only a few sputters early Monday.

Lake Elsinore Storm, which was on the receiving end of all the punishment dished out by the JetHawks a day earlier, was more than willing to get a measure of revenge with a 10-7 victory before 2,876 disappointed fans at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

"We didn't get things going early," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "But I thought we battled until the end."

The Storm jumped out to an eight-run lead after holding the JetHawks to two runs on five hits through the first seven innings.

Lancaster had single innings that were more productive than that Sunday, when they set franchise marks for runs (27), hits (28), extra-base hits (16) and margin of victory (22 runs), broke a league record for total bases (63) and tied a league mark with eight home runs.

The JetHawks used almost exactly the same lineup as they did Sunday, with the exception of Cirilo Cruz starting for the injured Jerry Amador in left field, but didn't have anything close to the same success.

A late rally made the numbers more respectable, as Lancaster finished with 11 hits in the game. Six of those hits and five runs came in the eighth and ninth innings, but arrived too late for the JetHawks.

"I thought we played nine innings tonight, we just made too many mistakes," Garner said.

With the loss, Lancaster fell to a minor-league worst 43-78 overall and 20-31 in the second half.

Lake Elsinore's Ryan Cummings (3-0) silenced the JetHawks' offense through most of his sevenplus solid innings of work. He allowed five earned runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out four.

"(Cummings) kept us off-balance all night," Garner said. "He threw a good curve and we were swinging at it."

Until Greg Connors' three-run homer in the eighth, which was his 14th of the season and second in two nights, Cummings held Lancaster to little more than a peep with two first-inning runs.

Those two runs, which came on an RBI double by Patrick Williams and a wild pitch that allowed Williams to score from third, negated the two runs the Storm scored off Lancaster starter Patrick Dunham in the top half of the inning on four hits.

Dunham (0-3) struggled in his four innings of work, as only 48 of his 85 pitches were for strikes. The right-hander allowed seven earned runs on nine hits and three walks.

"He struggled tonight," Garner said. "That's how it is. We were a little short of pitchers tonight, so I left him in there a little longer than I might have."

Two singles, three walks, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by Jeb Doughtery netted the Storm three runs in the third and a 5-2 lead. Lake Elsinore added two runs in the fourth with an RBI triple by Matt Curtis and an RBI single by Benji Simonton.

Curtis's three-run homer off Allen Simpson made the Storm lead 10-2.

The top four batters in the Lake Elsinore lineup did the most damage to Lancaster, going a combined 10-for-18 with seven RBI and nine runs scored.

Curtis went 3-for-4 with four RBI and just missed hitting for the cycle by a double. Lancaster's Rafael Lopez accomplished the feat a night earlier, but was held to a lone single in four at-bats Monday.

Jay Hood reached base all five times he stepped to the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double, a walk and four runs scored.

Uploaded August 17, 1999