JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: BIG NUMBERS GREAT, BUT LITTLE THINGS MATTER, TOO.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The 67-36 JetHawks have given manager Mark Parent endless reasons about which to brag. Juan Silvestre has 109 RBI, Craig Kuzmic a .322 batting average, Bo Robinson 123 hits and Terrmel Sledge a .445 on-base percentage.

But Freddy May drew Parent's proudest praise following Tuesday's 7-3 win over the Mudville Nine for simply bouncing out to second base.

In a still-in-doubt 3-1 game in the seventh inning, May batted with Robert Gandolfo at third and one out. May hit a grounder to the right side that scored an insurance run.

``I'll tell you what, situational hitting was phenomenal by Freddy. He knew (Gandolfo) was coming on contact with the infield in. He hit a little chopper and got him in,'' Parent said.

The manufactured run was also created by shortstop Antonio Perez, who preceded May's at-bat after Gandolfo had singled and stole second.

``Perez kind of sort of missed a hit-and-run,'' Parent admitted. ``He wasn't sure of the sign and he swung late. So then he knew had to move the runner. So he bunted him on his own. That's pretty good.''

Parent called Perez's and May's contributions ``baseball instincts, and learning how to use the scoreboard.''

And it certainly didn't hurt Perez and May to show some efficiency with one of the bosses in the ballpark. Seattle Mariners coordinator of instruction Mike Goff has been with the team since the weekend.

Goff watched the JetHawks exploit almost every Mudville mistake and sweep the three-game series between the California League's South and North Division leaders.

``You're happy when you see the execution these guys are going through right now,'' Goff said. ``The last four days I've been here, my God, there's very few situations that have come up where they haven't executed. That's why they're a ton of games over .500.

Thirty-one games, to be exact.

``Everybody's doing their job. Guys are giving themselves up, moving runners. There's no superstars on this team,'' Goff said. ``They play the game the way it's supposed to be played.''

--A run of bad luck: JetHawks pitcher Chris Mears suffered just one blemish in his start Tuesday: an unearned run in 6 2/3 innings.

And it was a rather unconventional run. Mudville center fielder Jason Fox hit a weak comebacker to Mears, but the ball squirted underneath his glove for an error.

``I don't really know what happened there. I took my eyes off the ball and that's what happens,'' Mears said.

Fox then stole second and third, and jogged home when Mears was called for a balk. But Mears accomplished his goal of keeping the ball down in the strike zone, a factor in his 5.17 ERA.

``I went into the game trying to get a lot of ground-ball outs,'' said Mears, who accomplished that goal with eight in the game.

--No Canada: While a team full of minor-leaguers will be announced in August to comprise the U.S. Olympic Baseball team, Mears won't get a chance to represent his native Canada in Sydney.

An Ottawa native now residing in Victoria, British Columbia, Mears played for Team Canada in last year's Pan Am Games in Winnipeg.

The host team beat the Americans and world-power Cuba to win its pool. But Cuba avenged that loss with a 3-2 victory in the semifinals.

Canada managed a bronze medal, but only the top two teams, Cuba and the U.S., qualified for the Olympics.

``It would have been great to go to the Olympics,'' Mears said. ``Just playing in the Pan Am Games was a blast. That's what baseball is all about.''

--Alumni report: Matt Sachse is starting over. The former JetHawks outfielder, who hit .267 and .305 in partial Lancaster stints the past two years, is now pitching in the Mariners farm system.

Sachse has performed well in a relief role at short-season Everett of the Northwest League. He's 2-1 with a 3.50 ERA in 12 relief appearances.

Sachse, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound left-hander, was a good pitcher at Ferris High in Spokane, Wash. The left-hander was 6-1 with a 1.36 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings. Sachse turned down a baseball scholarship to Stanford in 1994.

--Notable numbers: After winning three consecutive games from Mudville, the JetHawks have recorded 10 sweeps in two or three-game series this season. . . .

A six-game road trip that begins tonight in Modesto might give JetHawks opponents a chance. Lancaster has won 14 in a row at the Hangar and is 18-1 there since the all-star break. . . .

Kuzmic leads the team with 36 multihit games. Silvestre has collected two or more hits in a game 35 times. Robinson has done it 32 times and Sledge 30.

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(color) Antonio Perez and the JetHawks have done the little things to get 31 games over .500.

David Crane/Staff Photographer