JetHawks Get Modesto on Run in 5-2 Victory

LANCASTER —  A night after Lancaster Manager Rick Burleson made an example of outfielder Yuni Kim by pulling him from the game for not hustling on the basepaths, the message was clearly received by the rest of the JetHawks.

The all-out, aggressive baserunning style Burleson preaches--in sharp contrast to Kim’s slow dance around the bases on a routine fly ball that was dropped Wednesday night--helped the JetHawks register a 5-2 victory over the Modesto A’s before 4,188 on Thursday night at the Hangar.

Carlos Villalobos turned in the first baserunning gem, scoring from second base on a two-out dribbler by Dusty Wathan that didn’t reached the outfield grass. Villalobos never stopped running and slid under the tag of A.J. Hinch to give the JetHawks a 4-2 lead.

An inning later, Joel Ramirez scored from first with two out when Chris Dean blooped a double to right-center field.

“That’s what we teach,” Burleson said. “[The baserunner] can’t anticipate that he’s stopping [at third]. You have to anticipate scoring unless the coach stops you.”

Everything came together for the JetHawks (23-24), who got outstanding pitching from Rob Luce and Aaron Scheffer, and played flawless defense.

Luce walked the game’s first hitter and gave up a two-run homer to Hinch, but shut down Modesto on three hits for the next seven innings.

Luce (7-1), the California League’s winningest pitcher, walked one and struck out seven.

“He’s been excellent,” Burleson said. “After the two-run home run, he was perfect. He just gets ahead and gets outs.”

Right-hander Aaron Scheffer pitched two hitless innings, striking out three, to get his first save.

The JetHawks overcame the 2-0 deficit with a four-run fifth.

Dean, who has 24 hits in his past 50 at-bats, hit his fifth homer.

Miguel Correa, who had his second consecutive three-hit game, yanked his second double of the night. He scored on James Clifford’s triple.

Clifford scored the go-ahead run when Villalobos singled into left to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.