JetHawks' Rodgers reaches new heights

Brendan Rodgers' year-long rampage reached its high point on Friday night.
MLB.com's No. 10 overall prospect collected a season-high five hits to raise his average to .402 as Class A Advanced Lancaster thumped Inland Empire, 14-7, at The Hangar. The JetHawks infielder finished a triple shy of the cycle, scored three times and drove in two runs.

"He just continues to hit," Lancaster manager Fred Ocasio said. "That's the one thing with Brendan, that's his strength. I continue to say, he's got that ability to put the barrel to the ball. He's a pretty strong kid and he hit some balls hard today."
Gameday box score
Rodgers put the JetHawks on the board with a solo homer to left field in the first. The Rockies' top prospect ripped an RBI single to left in the third and legged out an infield single in the fourth. After doubling to right in the fifth, he was in position to complete the cycle.
With a chance at history, Rodgers tapped an infield single to the pitcher in the sixth.
"I keep it up on the board in the lineup card with what they're doing throughout the game, so they pretty much knew he needed a triple," Ocasio said. "But I think he's pretty happy about a five-hit night."
Though he popped out to the pitcher in the eighth, the 20-year-old still came away with the second five-hit performance of his career. The first came on July 12, 2015 with Rookie-level Grand Junction. He also fell one hit shy of becoming the first Lancaster player with six in a game since Willie Bloomquist on April 1, 2000.
All five of Rodgers' hits came on either the first or second pitch of the at-bat.
"He's aggressive and that's pretty much who he is," Ocasio said. "He's an aggressive hitter and he's not wasting any time when he goes up there. If the ball is around the zone, he's going to take an aggressive swing. He's still under control and he stays through the ball pretty good."
Rodgers extended his hitting streak to 17 games, during which he is 35-for-78 (.449). The third overall pick in the 2015 Draft has a California League-leading slash line of .402/.421/.701 in 40 games, aided in part by a .519/.540/.962 line in 18 games at The Hangar.
"I'm pretty surprised even when he goes into the game today hitting, I think, .390-something," Ocasio said. "It's hard to go up from .390-something. At the age that he's playing in this league, that's pretty impressive."

Sam Hilliard, Colorado's 26th-ranked prospect, finished 2-for-6 with a homer and four RBIs, while Roberto Ramos also went deep and plated two for Lancaster.
Trey Killian (6-2) surrendered seven runs on nine hits with five strikeouts and one walk over 5 2/3 frames for the JetHawks.
Inland Empire reliever Garrett Nuss (2-1) was tagged for six unearned runs on five hits and a walk in one inning.