JetHawks Tied With Oaks in 11th

Carlos Villalobos’ two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning scored Joe Mathis and enabled the Lancaster JetHawks to tie the Visalia Oaks, 7-7, at the Hangar on Thursday night, but James Clifford struck out with the bases loaded to send the game to the 11th as this edition went to press.

Jeff DaVanon’s run-scoring single in the top of the 10th gave the Oaks a 7-6 lead.

Villalobos’ hit took Aaron Scheffer off the hook from a loss that he would not have deserved. The Oaks’ run in the 10th was only the fifth earned run Scheffer has allowed in his last 20 1/3 innings.

Scheffer, who has become one of the JetHawks’ best relievers since the experiment with him as a starter was shelved, pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings until Manager Rick Burleson sent him out for the 10th. He got one out, then gave up a single to Eric Chavez and issued his first walk, to Duane Filchner.

Burleson pulled Scheffer in favor of Denny Bonilla, who gave up the hit to DaVanon that scored Chavez. Bonilla got a double play to get out of the inning.

The JetHawks got off to a quick start when designated hitter James Clifford blasted a three-run home run, his team-leading 11th, in the first inning. Miguel Correa’s two-run single in the second restored the JetHawks’ lead, 5-4.

JetHawk starter Eric Morgan pitched three good innings, with two bad ones mixed in. In the good ones, he retired nine of 10 batters. But in the second inning Morgan gave up four runs on five hits. And in the fifth, five of the first six hitters reached base with either a single or a walk.

Two runs scored, and Morgan was yanked with the JetHawks trailing, 6-5.

But Scheffer took the mound and promptly stopped the offensive spigot. He got out of the fifth with no more runs scoring--with the help of catcher Dusty Wathan chasing a loose pitch down quickly enough to nail Ramon Hernandez trying to score.

The JetHawks tied the score, 6-6, in fifth when Tarrik Brock grounded into a double play with runners at first and third. It was the first of three consecutive innings in which the Oaks turned double plays.

Clifford hit a bullet that seemed headed into the corner for a bases-loaded double in the sixth, but first baseman Dave Slemmer reached to his left to snag the liner, then took a couple more steps to easily double up Correa.