JetHawks Trampled by 4-Run Stampede

Starting pitcher Marino Santana sat silently in the JetHawk bullpen as his teammates quietly filed past after Friday night’s game against the San Bernardino Stampede.

Santana had pitched one of his best games, save for one inning. The problem was, San Bernardino’s Dennis Reyes had one of his best, without any rough innings.

The pitchers combined for 24 strikeouts, but Santana gave up four runs in the third inning and the Stampede made them stand up for a 4-0 victory before 2,231 at Fiscalini Field.

Reyes, a 19-year-old left-hander, threw eight scoreless innings, striking out 12. The first three times Reyes pitched against the JetHawks, he gave up 11 earned runs in 14 2/3 innings.

“I don’t think he did anything differently,” said Scot Sealy, the JetHawks’ designated hitter on Friday night. “We just didn’t make any adjustments.”

Catcher Dusty Wathan was somewhat more complimentary, saying: “He was keeping the ball down, throwing strikes and changing speeds. He did his job and we didn’t do ours.”

Santana did his.

The JetHawk right-hander was dominant at times, and unlucky at others. He struck out a season-high 12 in six innings, but gave up 10 hits. Five of the hits didn’t make it out of the infield, including three of the six in the third inning.

Chip Sell started the inning with a chopper up the middle. Shortstop Mike Lanza made a diving stop, but could not get rid of the ball in time to throw out Sell. Rafael Gross followed with a two-run homer, the 16th allowed by Santana, second most in the California League.

Santana (7-10) gave up singles to Eddie Davis and James Martin, and Adrian Beltre hit a sacrifice fly. The fourth run scored on Chad Townsend’s infield hit.

“[Santana] had good stuff,” Wathan said. “They had some balls fall in positions where we didn’t have guys. We got some bad breaks.”

The JetHawks (13-10) missed a chance to vault over the Stampede into first place in the California League’s Southern Division.

Shane Monahan, who had two hits to extend his hitting streak to 14 games, and Jason Cook had consecutive hits in the sixth. But Jesus Marquez lined out to shortstop Kevin Faircloth, who doubled Cook off first base.

San Bernardino 4, JetHawks 0

JetHawks: 000 000 000 -- 0 5 1

San Bernardino: 004 000 00x -- 4 10 1

Santana, E. Clifford (7) and Wathan; Reyes, Paluk (9) and Cooney.

W--Reyes (8-8).L--Santana (7-10).

HR: SB--Gross (5).

Records: JetHawks 13-10; San Bernardino 15-9.

* JETHAWK REPORT: C10