So Far, JetHawks Are Not Half Bad

LANCASTER — Two games does not a season make. But the Lancaster JetHawks have to hope it makes something.

In their 8-4 victory over the Lake Elsinore Storm on Friday night before 5,212 at the Hangar, the JetHawks hit three home runs, played solid defense and got good pitching.

It was a carbon copy of the JetHawks’ second-half-opening victory over the Storm on Thursday night. Pitching and defense were the JetHawks’ weaknesses in the first half, so giving up only seven runs and making no errors in two games has to be considered a good sign.

“If we play defense like that and pitch like that, we might make something of the second half,” said Manager Rick Burleson.

The offense has not been a problem all year. The JetHawks, who came into the game second in the California League with 82 homers in their first 71 games, teed off on Lake Elsinore pitching early.

In the first inning, third baseman Carlos Villalobos drilled his seventh home run, a two-run shot that bounced off the hitters’ background, about 15 feet above the fence in dead center field.

Two innings later, first baseman James Clifford blasted a moon shot that cleared a maintenance building behind the right-field fence. His team-leading 16th homer, and fourth in four games, gave the JetHawks a 5-3 lead.

Outfielder Tarrik Brock, who hadn’t homered since April 8, lifted a two-run shot over the right-center field fence later in the third, boosting the lead to 7-3.

That was enough for right-hander Joe Mays, who made his Lancaster debut after going 9-3 with a 2.09 earned-run average in the first half at Wisconsin.

In 5 2/3 innings, Mays gave up 10 hits, but all of them stayed in the park, which is a key to winning at the Hangar. He was charged with four runs.

Left-hander Denny Bonilla picked up for Mays in the sixth and continued to build a solid season after a horrid start. Bonilla gave up 12 earned runs in his first 10 2/3 innings, but his 2 1/3 scoreless innings Friday night gave him an 0.84 ERA in his last 32 innings.

Left-hander Sean Spencer pitched a scoreless ninth, allowing a single, to get his team-leading sixth save.