Surging JetHawks pick up six-pack

Lancaster scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to put Visalia away for its sixth straight victory.

But the only problem is, this may have come way too late to do much more than save face.

After struggling through the first 4 1/2 months of the season with the worst record in minor league baseball, the Lancaster JetHawks finally seem to have discovered what it takes to win in the Cal League with two weeks remaining.

The JetHawks, who hadn't captured more than three games in a row in the first 126 outings of the season, doubled that by winning their sixth consecutive with an 11-5 victory over the Visalia Oaks before 4,881 fans Friday at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

"We were hoping we'd go on a streak like this sometime," JetHawks manager Darrin Garner said. "It's tough to go through a season without winning four or five in a row. But I started to wonder there for a while."

The JetHawks, who broke the game open with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, are within two wins of tying a franchise-best eight-game winning streak established in August of 1997.

"That would be pretty nice," second baseman Jermaine Clark said. "We're going to ride this parade as long as it goes."

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Lancaster's hot streak is that all six wins have come at the hands of teams that likely will participate in the Cal League playoffs.

"People think they have easy wins when they come in here, but that just isn't the case," Garner said. "We've been playing pretty good the whole second half."

The streak started with two wins at the JetHawks' personal house of horrors in San Jose and continued with an eye-opening three-game sweep of San Bernardino, Lancaster's first series sweep of more than one game this season.

The streak also has kept the JetHawks' slim playoff hopes alive, even if they still are on life support.

Lancaster (27-35 second half, 50-82 overall) moved within seven games of South Division-leading High Desert and San Bernardino, who both lost Friday, in the second-half standings with eight games left. The JetHawks will be eliminated by any combination of two wins by either the Mavericks or Stampede or two losses of their own.

But the JetHawks, who have faced those same odds for the last four days, have yet to lose any ground.

"We know the playoffs are a longshot," Clark said. "If we make it, it would be something that would be unheard of in a 10-game schedule. But we're going to keep trying."

Clark led the offensive charge, missing the cycle by a double.

Clark led off the game by belting Eric Thompson's first offering over the right-field wall, matching a career high with his sixth homer of the year. He later singled in the third and made the score 2-0 when he crossed home plate on an RBI groundout by Shawn McCorkle.

But the Lancaster second baseman saved his biggest hit for the fourth inning, after Visalia had cut the lead in half with an RBI single from Javier Flores.

The JetHawks loaded the bases with one out thanks to Alex Fernandez's single, an error by Visalia second baseman Dionys Cesar and Matt Sachse's walk. Clark cleared the bases with his triple into the left-field corner.

That hit kick-started an eightrun rally for the JetHawks as they broke the game open with six hits off Thompson (8-6).

The resulting 10-1 margin was more than Lancaster starter Daron Kirkreit (3-4) would need as he made his third consecutive solid start, holding the Oaks to three earned runs on eight hits and two walks in six innings.