JetHawk Mortar Turns Into a Dud and a 10-9 Loss

The JetHawks’ 10-9 loss to the Stockton Ports on Thursday night at the Hangar was one of those games that caused Manager Dave Brundage to head straight for his office and a closed-door meeting.

All by himself.

Brundage needed solitude to ponder what had happened. The game had everything the team-record crowd of 6,778 could ask for, except a JetHawk victory.

“That was a great game,” Brundage said, “if you’re a Stockton Ports fan.”

The game made a few sharp turns in the final two innings, with the teams trading dramatic go-ahead home runs, and it ended with one final, unbelievable turn.

Trailing by a run, the JetHawks had runners at first and second with one out when Carlos Villalobos pounded a sharp one-hopper directly into the glove of Stockton pitcher Horacio Estrada. But instead of starting a routine, game-ending double play, Estrada spun on the mound, unable to find the ball that was in his glove.

Everyone was safe, bringing James Clifford to the plate needing a hit to win the game and a fly ball to tie. Clifford, who hit a mammoth three-run home run earlier in the game, yanked a blooper toward shallow right field, but second baseman John Morreale snagged the ball and fired to first to double up Villalobos, ending the game and leaving the JetHawks in a state of shock.

“When I hit it I thought I’d get lucky and it would go over his head,” Clifford said.

Brundage, sitting solemnly in his office, said: “I thought there was no way we could lose that game.”

Outfielder Shane Monahan summed it up best: “It’s just baseball. It’s a freaky thing.”

Monahan had one of the most memorable days of his career. His two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth followed Dusty Wathan’s two-run homer, capping a rally that turned a 7-5 deficit into a 9-7 lead.

Monahan dedicated the homer to Chris Kyber, a friend who was killed July 4, 1993 in a fireworks accident.

But in the top of the ninth, JetHawk reliever John Thompson (1-4) gave up three consecutive hits, the last a towering three-run home run by Stockton’s Mike Rennhack that gave the Ports a 10-9 lead.

Brundage said he considered using Tom Szimanski, who has been a more effective reliever throughout the season, in the ninth instead of Thompson, but Szimanski is coming off a shoulder injury and had not pitched since May 21.

“I thought about it, but right now J.T. is our closer,” Brundage said. “Tom hasn’t pitched in 10 days or two weeks and I don’t know what I’m going to get if I put him in.”

After the homer, Szimanski came in and retired the three hitters he faced.

The JetHawks, 0-7 against Stockton, are 9-7 in the second half.

“I thought we outplayed them but some freak things happened,” Monahan said.

Stockton 10, JetHawks 9

Stockton: 001 001 323 -- 10 16 3

JetHawks: 001 301 040 -- 9 11 2

Kramer, Drysdale (7), Salazar (8), Estrada (9) and Campillo; Wooten, Niemeier (8), Thompson (8), Szimanski (9) and Wathan.

W--Salazar (2-1).L--Thompson (1-4).S--Estrada (2).

2B: S--Morreale, Williams 2, Krause; J--Lanza.3B:S--Betances.HR:S--Rennhack (9); J--Monahan (8), Clifford (12), Wathan (5).

Records: Stockton 9-7; JetHawks 9-7.