JetHawks Win First in Cruz Control

Slow down, Jose. Fans in Lancaster want to see you play.

While leading the JetHawks in the franchise’s first game to an 8-3 victory over the Bakersfield Blaze before 2,217 at Sam Lynn Ballpark, Jose Cruz Jr. showed all the reasons the Seattle Mariners made him a first-round pick last June.

He was three for four with a run batted in, a stolen base, a nice running catch and an assist on an out at the plate.

At this rate, Cruz will earn a promotion to double A before the JetHawks finish their 12-game trip and come home to Lancaster Municipal Stadium on April 16.

“I’m just going to do my best when I’m up there to show I can handle hitting at each level,” Cruz said.

The game ended much better than it began for the JetHawks. Starting pitcher Ivan Montane seemed to be continuing in the pattern he started last season at Riverside: great stuff but poor command.

Although he allowed only two hits in five innings, he walked four batters and hit another. He was charged with three runs, one earned.

“His ball just runs all over the place,” said catcher Scot Sealy. “When you’re throwing 94 or 95 [mph] and it’s running all over the place, it’s hard to control.”

Montane hit Bakersfield’s Kyle Towner with his first pitch of the game and started 10 of the next 12 hitters he faced with balls.

He seemed to settle down after a meeting with pitching coach Juan Eichelberger in the third. At the time of the visit, Montane had walked three batters in the inning and the JetHawks trailed, 3-1.

Montane (1-0) retired the next six hitters and got out of a potential jam in the fifth when the JetHawks threw out Pat Moultrie at the plate on a relay from Cruz in left field to second baseman Jason Cook to Sealy.

“Last year was a different situation,” JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage said. “Montane would have never gotten out of that inning.”

Sealy had just helped the JetHawks tie the score, 3-3, in the top of the fourth, when he drilled an 0-and-1 pitch over the center-field fence for a two-run home run.

The JetHawks took their first lead, 6-3, with a three-run sixth.

After Bakersfield starter Jose Cabrera, who struck out seven in five innings, was pulled in favor of Derrick Hritz (0-1) in the sixth, Cook drew a one-out walk.

With two out and Cook at second, leadoff hitter Marcus Sturdivant used his speed to turn what looked like a routine ground ball to first base into a single. Cook scored all the way from second on the play.

Sturdivant had three singles--two on infield hits.

Shane Monahan then ripped a double off the left center-field fence, driving in Sturdivant. Cruz finished out the scoring in the inning with an RBI single up the middle.

The JetHawks extended their lead to 7-3 in the seventh on a run-scoring double by No. 9 hitter Luis Molina.

The JetHawks’ relief pitchers, none of whom had pitched in the California League, also performed well. Left-handed Todd Niemeier followed Montane and retired six of the seven batters he faced.

Right-hander Tom Szimanski struck out five in the final two innings.