JetHawks' Scott excels on night of firsts

Jordan Scott won a friendly wager with a blast during batting practice on Saturday. He rode that victory into a career night at the plate.

Scott tripled twice, homered and matched a career high with five RBIs as Class A Advanced Lancaster rolled to a 10-3 win over Rancho Cucamonga at LoanMart Field.

Prior to the second game of this weekend wraparound series, Scott notched his first personal win of the day. Teammate and Astros No. 11 prospect Rio Ruiz offered free food for the next few days if the outfielder homered during BP. Scott obliged . His first trip to the plate come game time looked much the same.

Scott erased an early Lancaster deficit by blasting his first California League homer, a three-run shot to center field. Two innings later, he was in the thick of another JetHawks outburst, ripping his first triple of the season to bring home two more runs.

"I was seeing the ball real well tonight," Scott said. "I give a lot of credit to my hitting coach, [Darryl Robinson]. We've been doing a lot of drills lately, for the past week or so, breaking down my swing and getting everything working together. It took a little while for things to get going, but it's a process. You've got to keep working at it every day and things will come into place."

The 22-year-old wasn't done. Scott tripled to center leading off the sixth inning, marking his first three-hit day of the season and the second multi-triple game of his career. He has hits in five straight games and eight of his last nine, lifting his average from .170 on May 5 to .268.

"It definitely gives you confidence to go into the next day," Scott said, "but it is just one night. You've got to keep working hard every day and putting in the work every day and, hopefully, there's more games like this to come."

The JetHawks, who rank third in the hitter-friendly California League with a .274 batting average, got a jolt from Scott out of the eighth spot in the lineup. The heart of Lancaster's order wasn't bad, either, as Astros No. 13 prospect Teoscar Hernandez, top prospect Carlos Correa and Ruiz combined to go 6-for-13 with two doubles, four RBIs and five runs scored.

"It's by far the best team I've ever played on," Scott said. "Guys go out there and play hard every day and we've got great talent on our team. It's fun to sit back and watch, even if you're not playing. It's fun to watch these guys because someone does something special each and every night."

Lancaster went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position, while Rancho Cucamonga batted just once -- and went hitless -- in a similar situation.

The run support was more than enough for No. 5 Astros prospect Lance McCullers (2-2), who struck out nine while allowing two runs on three hits over five innings.

Quakes starter Jharel Cotton (0-2) surrendered six runs on five hits and three walks while striking out five in four frames.