JetHawks Brought Down to Earth, 7-4

The odds had to catch up with JetHawks.

After five games of playing so well that it was almost eerie, the JetHawks finally had an off night and lost to the High Desert Mavericks, 7-4, before a quiet, chilly crowd of 5,388 Saturday night at the Hangar.

Instead of the excitement that the JetHawks had provided in winning nine of their previous 10 and five in a row, the team displayed bad pitching, bad hitting, bad defense and even bad baserunning.

“I guess we weren’t going to win them all,” JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage said. “We just didn’t have it tonight.”

Despite it all, they still had the potential tying run at the plate with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Jason Cook struck out and Mike Lanza grounded out.

Marino Santana (1-2), who was sharp in a six-inning effort against the Mavericks on Monday night, did not have his command and was ripped for six runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Marcus Sturdivant, Shane Monahan and Jose Cruz Jr. came into the game among the California League leaders in hits, but they combined for one hit in 12 at-bats.

“We just never got it going,” Brundage said. “We kept waiting for the big inning and it never came.”

The JetHawks (12-5) also made three errors.

The only positive of the evening was the JetHawk bullpen. Relievers Tim Trawick and John Thompson did not allow an earned run in 4 2/3 innings.

But the damage had been done.

The game began with Santana feeding a first-pitch double to Rolando Avila, who scored on a single by David Lamb. Lamb, a Newbury Park High graduate, had two hits, raising his average to .361.

Santana gave up another run in the second on a two-out double down the left-field line by Bryan Bogle.

Even though the JetHawks weren’t hitting, they took advantage of Matt Marenghi’s mistakes to tie the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the second.

James Clifford’s blooper was the only hit in the inning, but the JetHawks took advantage of two walks, two balks and a passed ball to score twice.

The teams traded runs in the fourth, with High Desert scoring on Roy Hodge’s double followed by Ray Suplee’s single. Jason Cook’s two-out single drove in Carlos Villalobos for the JetHawks.

Santana fell apart in the top of the fifth. He gave up a leadoff double to Fletcher Thompson. One out later, Chris Kirgan singled in a run. Santana walked Doug Newstrom, which brought Brundage out of the dugout with a hook.

Trawick came in and threw a wild pitch, moving runners to second and third. Hodge grounded out to drive in one run and Suplee singled to make it 6-3.

The JetHawks pulled to within 6-4 in the sixth on Jesus Marquez’s double and Clifford’s single, but Clifford was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double.

The Mavericks bumped the lead to 7-4 in the eighth after third baseman Villalobos made his 10th error in 17 games. Suplee, who reached base on the error, scored on a two-out single by Avila.

High Desert 7, JetHawks 4

High Desert: 110 130 010 -- 7 12 1

JetHawks: 020 101 000 -- 4 7 3

Marenghi, Dean (8) and Newstrom; Santana, Trawick (5), Thompson (8) and Sealy.

W--Marenghi (1-1). L--Santana (1-2). S--Dean (1).

2B: HD--Avila, Thompson, Hodge, Bogle; J--Marquez.

Records: High Desert 5-11; JetHawks 12-5.