JetHawks Swept Out of Town

LANCASTER — Not only were the Lancaster JetHawks swept for the first time in the second half, they also may have been whisked right out of the division title race.

Their 5-4 loss to High Desert before a sellout crowd of 6,104 at the Hangar on Friday night dropped the JetHawks three games behind the Mavericks with nine to play--all on the road for Lancaster.

The teams entered the three-game series tied for the California League’s Valley Division lead.

Lancaster (37-24), which needs to overtake High Desert (40-21) or hold off third-place Modesto (36-25) to claim a postseason berth, embarks on a season-ending nine-game trip beginning tonight in Bakersfield.

The victory was the seventh in a row at Lancaster for the Mavericks, who won the season series, 13-7.

The sweep was staggering, to be sure, and the Mavericks used an unlikely one-two punch to deliver the final blow.

Gary Mota of Crescenta Valley, a .224 hitter, concluded a seven-for-12 series with four hits and No. 9 hitter Junior Spivey had three runs batted in.

They helped build a 5-2 lead, then watched JetHawk center fielder Joe Mathis triple and score on a sacrifice fly in the sixth and Yuni Kim slug a pinch-hit home run in the seventh to close the margin to 5-4.

Lancaster twice had chances to tie it, but stranded runners at second in the seventh and eighth.

High Desert reliever Don Peters, who entered with two out in the eighth, retired the final four batters to register his seventh save.

Lancaster’s Jim Horner had three hits, including his eighth homer.

His wind-blown solo home run to right in the fifth cut the difference to 3-2 and put Maverick pitcher Vladimir Nunez (8-5) in the Cal League record book.

The home run was the 35th yielded by Nunez, a Cuban defector, tying a 43-year-old California League record.

Spivey chopped a ball over a drawn-in infield in the sixth to drive in Bo Durkac and Mota for a 5-2 lead.

High Desert broke a 1-1 tie in the third when Mike Stoner doubled home Jason Goligoski.

Stoner doubled and scored on Stanton Cameron’s RBI single in the first. In the bottom half, Mathis dropped a bunt single, stole second and scored on Cirilo Cruz’s single in the bottom of the first to tie it, 1-1.

* DAILY REPORT C14.