THOMPSON'S BAT COMES TO LIFE : JETHAWKS 10, BAKERSFIELD 6.Byline: Chris Cocoles Daily News Staff Writer Well known for making in-season adjustments, some minor, others more noticeable, Karl Thompson vowed this year would be different. But the JetHawks' catcher struggled through the season's first two months, barely breaking the .200 mark by the first day of June. A week later, Thompson was tinkering again, closing his batting stance. It worked wonders for his average, as it did for the JetHawks, who took advantage of Thompson's sizzling siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. bat Sunday to beat the visiting Bakersfield Blaze The Bakersfield Blaze are a minor league baseball team in Bakersfield, California, USA. They are a "high-A" class team in the California League, and are a farm team of the Texas Rangers. The Bakersfield Blaze play home games at Sam Lynn Ballpark. 10-6 before 3,510 at Lancaster Municipal Stadium. Thompson blasted a solo homer Noun 1. solo homer - a home run with no runners on base solo blast home run, homer - a base hit on which the batter scores a run off the screen in dead center in the fifth and deposited a two-run triple to the same area of the park his next at-bat an inning later. Batting just .201 on June 1, the 24-year-old raised his average to .265. During an eight-game hitting streak In baseball, a hitting streak refers to the consecutive number of official games in which a player gets at least one base hit. Games in which a player does not have any official at bats due to walks, or sacrifice bunts, or being hit by a pitch, are ignored (neither break the streak , Thompson has 14 hits in 29 at-bats with three homers, eight RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in , a double and two triples. ``It wasn't much, just one step in. But I'm seeing the ball better and hitting a lot of breaking pitches,'' Thompson said. Said manager Rick Burleson Thompson definitely clicked with Sunday's starter Greg Wooten (2-1), who had his second straight solid outing by allowing just two runs on three hits in seven innings. Roster move: Reliever Kevin Gryboski will leave today for a scheduled one-week stint at Double-A Orlando as an injury replacement. Tonight's pitching matchup: Blaze RH Chad Frontera (2-5, 5.70) or RH Nathan Rice (3-5, 6.28) vs. JetHawks LH Jason Bond (5-1, 3.27); 7:11 at Lancaster Municipal Stadium. MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT While Highland High teammate Traviss Hodge was the school's big name, J.P. Schmidt's solid senior season prompted the Oakland A's to draft and sign the Bulldogs' shortstop. Schmidt drove in three runs for Oakland's rookie-level Arizona League team Saturday in an 11-1 win over the Cubs. Captain Crabtree: CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge product Rob Crabtree made an impressive debut with Double-A Shreveport off a promotion from San Jose, tossing two scoreless innings with four strikeouts in relief to earn the win for the Captains. Granada Hills High graduate Mike McMullen notched his seventh save in Shreveport's 5-3 victory over Jackson. --- Chris Cocoles CAPTION(S): Box BOX: MINOR-LEAGUE REPORT (see text) |
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