Big first inning propels 'Hawks to win

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - The JetHawks got on the board with four runs in the first inning and went on to beat the Inland Empire 66ers, 10-5, on Wednesday night at San Manuel Stadium.
Ryan Vilade put the JetHawks (65-61, 31-27) on the board with a two-run home run after Matt Hearn reached on an error to start the game. The homer was Vilade's 10th of the season and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Luis Castro and Taylor Snyder followed Vilade with back-to-back doubles to bring home another run. Snyder, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games, proceeded to steal third base and came home on a Casey Golden fly ball to give Lancaster a 4-0 lead in the first.
The 66ers (50-77, 24-34) scored runs in the first and third innings against starter Colten Schmidt (2-4) to cut the Lancaster lead to 4-2 while starter Travis Herrin settled in.
Lancaster got to starter Travis Herrin (3-6) again in the fourth inning. The right-hander walked Vilade with the bases loaded before Castro brought home a pair of runs with a base-hit.
Schmidt ended up allowing four runs on seven hits over 5.2 innings. He struck out seven batters and snapped his personal four-game losing streak.
Castro added another RBI later in the contest and finished with three on the night. He's driven in six runs through the first two games of the series and leads the league with 84 RBIs overall.
LeeMarcus Boyd and Matt Hearn each added RBI-hits in the eighth inning.
The JetHawks will play for a sweep of the 66ers in the finale on Thursday at 7:05 p.m. Garrett Schilling will start against Cristopher Molina.