JetHawks Come Up Short on Long Ball

Of all the ways JetHawk right-hander Greg Wooten could lose a game, the home run was the least likely.

Wooten, whose normal repertoire includes nothing but knee-high pitches, is such a notorious ground-ball pitcher he probably gets hate mail from earthworms.

So it was unusual to see him give up five homers in fewer than five innings of the JetHawks’ 12-4 loss to the Lake Elsinore Storm on Tuesday night before 3,861 at the Hangar.

It was a rare ugly mark on Wooten’s brief but impressive pro resume. A third-round pick who signed with the Mariners late last season, he was 7-1 with a 2.47 earned-run average in the first half of this year at Class-A Wisconsin and 2-0 with a 3.43 ERA with the JetHawks.

The first sign that it wouldn’t be his night was when 5-foot-7 Joe Urso, the second batter of the game, hit a homer to left field. Urso, who entered the game with 11 homers in 4 1/2 pro seasons, added another solo shot in the fifth, this one bouncing off the top of the fence.

Urso has done so well against the JetHawks--dating to last year when they were the Riverside Pilots--JetHawk Manager Dave Brundage has taken to calling him “Babe” Urso.

“Babe Urso continues his onslaught just when I thought we were figuring out how to get him out,” Brundage said.

Two batters after Urso’s homer in the first, Todd Takayoshi hit a two-run shot. Jason Herrick added a solo homer in the fourth. Bret Hemphill followed Urso’s second homer with a three-run homer in the fifth.

Hemphill’s blast, which followed an intentional walk to Herrick, signaled the end of Wooten’s shortest start with the JetHawks. He left trailing, 9-1.

“I will go out on a limb and say he won’t give up five homers in a game the rest of his career,” Brundage said.

The JetHawks (13-8) saw a four-game winning streak end.

Their best inning was the sixth, when Carlos Villalobos led off with his fourth home run and Shane Monahan hit a two-run double. Monahan was two for five, extending his hitting streak to 12 games.

Jesus Marquez went hitless in three official at-bats, ending his hitting streak at 13 games.

Lake Elsinore 12, JetHawks 4

Lake Elsinore: 300 150 003 -- 12 12 1

JetHawks: 100 003 000 -- 4 7 2

Deakman, Hill (6), Haynes (9) and Hemphill; Wooten, Daniels (5), Niemeier (9) and Wathan.

W--Deakman (7-7). L--Wooten (2-1).

2B: LE--Takayoshi; J--Jordan. 3B:J--Monahan. HR:LE--Urso 2 (6), Takayoshi (6), Herrick (2), Hemphill (8); J--Villalobos (4).

Records: Lake Elsinore 10-11; JetHawks 13-8.

* JETHAWK REPORT: C7