Villalobos Powers JetHawks in 12th

LANCASTER —  Carlos Villalobos homered leading off the bottom of the 12th inning, giving the Lancaster JetHawks an 8-7 victory over the Visalia Oaks on Thursday night before 4,843 at the Hangar.

Villalobos, whose two-out single tied the game in the bottom of the 10th, kept the JetHawks (27-28) from their first three-game losing streak in 39 games.

Left-hander Denny Bonilla (4-3) pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the victory.

Jeff DaVanon’s single in the top of the 10th inning gave the Oaks a 7-6 lead. It was only the fifth earned run charged to JetHawk reliever Aaron Scheffer in the past 20 1/3 innings.

Scheffer, who has become one of the team’s best relievers since the experiment with him as a starter was shelved, pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings, but Mangaer Rick Burleson sent him out for the 10th. He got one out, then gave up a single to Eric Chavez and issued his first walk of the night, to Duane Filchner.

Burleson then pulled Scheffer in favor of Denny Bonilla, who gave up a hit to DaVanon. Bonilla got a double play to get out of the inning.

The JetHawks got off to a quick start when James Clifford blasted a three-run home run, his team-leading 11th, in the first inning. Miguel Correa’s two-run single in the second restored the JetHawks’ lead, 5-4.

JetHawk starter Eric Morgan pitched three good innings, with two bad ones mixed in. In the good ones, he retired nine of 10 batters. But in the second inning Morgan gave up four runs on five hits. And in the fifth, five of the first six hitters reached base with either a single or a walk. Two runs scored, and Morgan was yanked with the JetHawks trailing 6-5.

Scheffer took the mound and promptly stopped the offensive spigot. He got out of the fifth with no more runs scoring--with the help of catcher Dusty Wathan chasing a loose pitch down quickly enough to nail Ramon Hernandez trying to score.

The JetHawks tied the game, 6-6, in fifth when Tarrik Brock grounded into a double play with runners at first and third. It was the first of three consecutive innings in which the Oaks turned double plays.

Clifford hit a bullet that seemed headed into the corner for a bases-loaded double in the sixth, but first baseman Dave Slemmer reached to his left to snag the liner, then took a couple more steps to easily double off Correa.