JetHawks Fire Early, Then Fall Back, 6-5

The High Desert Mavericks again got the best of the Lancaster JetHawks, 6-5, in 10 innings Thursday night in front of 5,641 at Lancaster Municipal Stadium.

The JetHawks (37-23) fell two games behind High Desert but stayed a game ahead of the third-place Modesto A’s, who lost Thursday night.

With 10 games left, nine on the road and three at Modesto, the JetHawks face High Desert for the last time tonight at 7:15.

Lancaster must win the division or finish better than Modesto to qualify for the playoffs.

Mike Stoner and Stanton Cameron, who rank first and second in the league in runs batted in, each drove in two runs for High Desert.

Cameron belted two home runs, his second coming off Lancaster reliever Brian Sweeney (5-3) on the first pitch of the 10th inning.

Cameron, a 29-year-old player-coach, hit a towering shot over the scoreboard.

The JetHawks were stymied in the final two innings by Dave Tuttle (4-3), who struck out the side in the 10th.

Both teams scored in the first inning. Jason Conti doubled to open against Damaso Marte and he was singled home by Stoner.

The JetHawks tied it on James Clifford’s sacrifice fly, then took a 2-1 lead in the second when David Skeels scored on Joe Mathis’ grounder.

The Mavericks answered with Jason Goligoski’s two-out single and Stoner’s triple in the third.

Lancaster moved in front when Skeels singled and later scored on a single by Joel Ramirez in the fourth and increased the lead to 4-2 in the fifth when Jason Regan doubled and later scored on a wild pitch.

High Desert came back on Cameron’s home run in the sixth to make it 4-3. Goligoski delivered a two-out, two-run single to center in the seventh to chase Marte and give the Mavericks a 5-4 lead.

The JetHawks made it 5-5 when Luis Molina, running for Shawn Buhner, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a two-out single by Skeels.

* MINOR LEAGUES

Daily report and statistics. C15