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Sports

Tuesday, Jul. 14, 2009

Nuts gamble, get payoff with win

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True to the weather at their desolate home stadium location, the High Desert Mavericks have been a team of extremes this season.

En route to winning the South Division first half title, the Mavs played in both the longest game and the highest scoring game in California League history, while one of their players -- Jamie McOwen -- posted a league-record 45-game hitting streak.

Add one more extreme to that list.

In Modesto's 8-3 win on Monday, the Mavericks were involved in perhaps the strangest inning of this or any season -- a four-run Nuts' sixth inning that carried Modesto to the series win.

Overall, this was a strange series. High Desert came to Modesto with a .301 team batting average and left losing three of four while collecting only five runs and 19 hits over the four games.

"It's been a tough road trip for us -- San Jose and here -- two tough teams in two tough ballparks for us," said Mavericks' manager Jim Horner. "They shut us down offensively with good pitchers making good pitches and making some good plays on defense."

And it wasn't like Modesto was launching the ball all over Thurman Field. The Nuts had 26 hits, and made the most of them to score 13 runs.

"This series has been a credit to our pitchers," said Nuts' manager Jerry Weinstein. "Our pitchers did a particularly good job of pitching inside for strikes."

Christian Friedrich, sidelined since June 10 with elbow soreness, showed no rustiness on the mound. His 70-pitch limit got him into the sixth inning, and he left allowing only one run on three hits with a walk and four strikeouts.

Friedrich (2-0) was staked to a 1-0 lead in the second on Jeff Cunningham's fourth home run of the season, a no-doubt blast to right. It was only the 10th home run at Thurman Field this season for the Nuts -- their first since Friedrich's last start.

"One home run a month...that's what we're good for," Weinstein said.

Modesto added two more in the fourth when Jay Cox walked and scored on Jason Van Kooten's two-out triple. Lars Davis followed with a double for a 3-0 lead.

Friedrich allowed a run on two hits in the fifth, and reliever Carlos Pena was greeted by a home run to right by McOwen that pulled High Desert within 3-2.

But that was before all strangeness broke loose in the bottom of the inning.

High Desert starter Nate Adcock (5-6) was pulled after walking Cox and Scott Beerer to open the inning. Reliever Travis Mortimore almost got out of the inning, allowing a sacrifice bunt and a walk to load the bases before fanning Davis for the second out.

Righty Aaron Jensen entered to pitch to the right-handed Matt Repec, and got ahead 0-2 before bouncing a ball in the dirt.

It caromed only about 15 feet away, but Cox got a good jump off third base. Catcher Travis Scott pounced on the ball, but Jensen couldn't handle the throw. It rolled toward the Mavs' dugout as both Cox and Beerer scored.

"We gamble on the bases with two strikes on the batter, and Jay got a good jump," Weinstein said. "That was a big play. We got the maximum from the minimum -- two runs without a hit." Repec proceeded to single home the third run of the inning. He then stole second and scored on Brian Rike's single, completing the four-run, two-hit major Nuts' offensive explosion.

Luna allowed another run in the seventh before Ching-Lung Lo and Randall Taylor got the final six outs for the Nuts.

Bee staff writer Brian VanderBeek can be reached at bvanderbeek@modbee.com or 578-2300.