Mavs score 30 runs in win over JetHawks

By Daily Press

August 10, 2013

ADELANTO • The scoreboard at Stater Bros. Stadium displayed something unusual Friday night.

In the run column for both the first and second inning, the number for the High Desert Mavericks flashed between 1 and 0 throughout the night, with the total runs column reading a staggering 20 after two innings.

High Desert scored 10 runs in the first inning and tallied 10 more in the second, putting up a season-high run total and pushing the scoreboard to the limit in a 30-8 win over Lancaster.

It was much needed offensive exposition for the Mavs, who entered Friday's game having lost 11 of 12 games. All nine batters in the Mavs starting lineup reached base safely at least twice, and High Desert slugged 14 extra-base hits, with eight doubles, a triple and five home runs.

"It makes you feel good for tonight," Mavericks manager Jim Horner said. "In baseball, the next day's starting pitcher is your momentum. This game's over now, you don't get to carry anything into tomorrow. It's good that we get to feel good about swinging the bats well, but tomorrow's a new day."

The 30 run falls short of the California League record for most runs by one team in a game, as Fresno scored 34 against Ventura on May 23, 1947. The highest scoring game in Cal League history took place at Stater Bros. Stadium on June 28, 2009, with Lake Elsinore defeating High Desert 33-18.

Everyone in the Mavericks' batting order had come to the plate three times by the time the bottom of the second inning was over, as High Desert sent 13 batters to the plate in the first inning and 14 in the second. Lancaster starting pitcher Michael Hauschild was chased from the game in the first inning, lasting two-thirds of an inning and giving up 10 runs, five earned, on eight hits.

Mavs leadoff-hitting center fielder Jamal Austin went 3-for-7 with a double and three runs scored. Austin has been perhaps the Mavericks' most valuable player in the second half of the season, and is now batting .300 for the season with team highs in stolen bases (33) and runs scored (84). Austin is working on a 12-game hitting streak and is hitting .417 (25-for-60) during that span.

High Desert had seven batters reach base safely before Hauschild recorded the first out. Mavs first baseman Steven Proscia hit a grand slam out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup, his second home run of the season, putting the Mavs ahead 5-0.

Hauschild finally recorded a pair of outs but ran into trouble with Austin at the plate for his second at-bat of the first inning. Austin hit a single with runners on first and second, but Patrick Brady was caught in a pickle trying to score from second. However, a throwing error from JetHawks catcher Luis Alvarez allowed Brady to escape the rundown and score.

The two-out error on Alvarez led to High Desert scoring five unearned runs in the first, with Brady and Brock Hebert coming across to score on the play. Austin eventually scored on a Nate Melendres single, and Kevin Rivers hit a two-run homer, his 15th of the season, to cap off the first inning with the Mavs ahead 10-1.

The bottom of the second inning quickly got out of hand as well, with Lancaster reliever Blair Walters issuing three consecutive walks to load the bases with no outs. Mavs catcher Steven Baron connected for a three-run triple, and No. 9-hitter shortstop Anthony Phillips followed with a two-run homer, his ninth of the season.

Ahead 15-1 in the second, the Mavs weren't done, with Austin hitting a double in his third at-bat of the game. Austin's hit was the third in a string of six consecutive base hits for High Desert, which followed the three walks Walters issued to begin the inning.

Walters recorded the first out of the frame on a sacrifice fly from Proscia that put the Mavericks ahead 18-1. Brady followed with an RBI double, ending the night for Walters after 2-3 of an inning pitched. Walters gave up 10 runs, all earned, on seven hits and three walks.

Mavs starting pitcher Jordan Shipers (2-2) picked up his first win since April 13. Shipers, who has spent much of the 2013 season on the disabled list, pitched five innings, giving up four earned runs on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

Melendres hit singles in each of his first five at-bats, finishing 6-for-8 with five runs scored.

Kivlehan finished 5-for-7 with two doubles, a home run and six RBI, extending his current hitting streak to 14 games. Rivers went 4-for-5 with a home run, double and three RBI, and Proscia went 3-for-6 with a home run, two doubles and five RBI for High Desert.

Story courtesy of the Daily Press