JetHawks Win Despite Taking Walk on the Wild Side, 3-2

Twenty pitches called balls couldn’t beat the Lancaster JetHawks on Wednesday night, but one could beat the Lake Elsinore Storm.

Although JetHawk starting pitcher Brett Hinchliffe walked the first five batters, the JetHawks avoided disaster and won, 3-2, to take sole possession of first place in the California League’s Southern Division.

The JetHawks (14-6) scored the winning run in the top of the eighth when Jesus Marquez watched what most of the 3,319 fans at the Diamond thought was strike three, then hit Rob Bonanno’s next pitch for a run-scoring single off the right-field fence.

“It was close,” Marquez said of the curveball on the outside corner, “but I knew he’d come back with the same pitch and I hit it well.”

After the hit, Storm players argued from the dugout and Eddie Rodriguez, a roving instructor for the Angels, was ejected.

JetHawk relief pitcher Chris Beck (4-0) survived a scare in the bottom of the eighth. With a runner at first, Danny Buxbaum hit a 390-foot fly ball that Jose Cruz Jr. caught within 10 feet of the center-field fence.

Beck was pulled in favor of Todd Niemeier, who induced a soft fly ball to left field to end the eighth. Tom Szimanski pitched a scoreless ninth--needing a 400-foot out--to pick up his second save.

Hinchliffe, a 22-year-old right-hander, opened the game by missing the strike zone with 20 of his first 24 pitches.

“I was just in a daze,” Hinchliffe said. “I didn’t really know what I was doing out there. I wasn’t following through.

“After that fifth walk, I knew if I walked the next guy I was out of there.

“I just took a breath and settled down and said let’s throw strikes and let them hit the ball.”

They did, and hit a ground ball to third baseman Mike Lanza, who started a third-to-home-to-first double play.

“That was the biggest play of the ballgame right there,” said JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage.

Hinchliffe ended the inning with a strikeout and trailed, 2-1.

Hinchliffe clamped down, shutting out the Storm for four innings on a remarkably efficient 49 pitches. He actually left the game having lowered his earned-run average from 4.15 to 4.00.

Lancaster’s Marcus Sturdivant led off the game with a double and scored on Shane Monahan’s single. Sturdivant was three for three, giving him six hits in two games.

The JetHawks tied it in the third, thanks to two errors by Lake Elsinore shortstop Paul Failla.

JetHawks 3, Lake Elsinore 2

JetHawks: 101 000 010 -- 3 7 0

Lake Elsinore: 200 000 000 -- 2 5 3

Hinchliffe, Beck (6), Niemeier (8), Szimanski (9) and Wathan; Deakman, Bonanno (8) and Hemphill.

W--Beck (4-0). L--Bonanno (2-1). S--Szimanski (2).

2B: J--Sturdivant; LE--Christian.

Records: JetHawks 14-6; Lake Elsinore 13-7.