Tiffee and Maza Tearing Up The PCL

Luis Maza's smoking bat produced a five hit night as Las Vegas smothered Albuquerque 10-1. Jacksonville's James McDonald gave up five in the fifth inning in a 6-0 loss to Tennessee. Inland Empire dumped Lake Elsinore 8-7 helped by three hits from Carlos Santana and Great Lakes lost 5-2 to Beloit for their seventh loss in a row.

Tiffee Has Competition from Maza
Terry Tiffee has streaked across the Pacific Coast League sky and sports the top batting average .482. But Luis Maza, who hit .330 last season for the 51s, is on a torrid streak.

After knocking in six runs with three hits on the final day of April, he added a 5-for-5 night against Albuquerque to boost his average to .435 to help Las Vegas smack the Isotopes 10-1 behind Jason Johnson (3-2). The second baseman has had eight hits and eight RBI in the last two games.

Johnson pitched into the sixth inning and was apparently easy to hit, allowing nine, but tough to score on, allowing just one earned run. Mike Koplove continued his bid for a slot on the Los Angeles staff with 2.2 hitless innings, reducing his ERA to a microscopic 0.52. Brian Falkenborg added a hitless ninth.

Tiffee stood up to Maza's challenge, whacking a two-run double in the fifth to give Johnson a little breathing room. He also added a singled and a sacrifice fly.

The third member of the Las Vegas bashers, John Lindsey, drew an 0-for-5 and his average slid to .368.

The 51 (14-13) travel to Round Rock to start a four game series against the Express tonight.

  Score by Innings
Las Vegas	101 031 004-10
Albuquerque	000 000 000- 1

  Las Vegas	ab r  h  bi ave
Maza 2b        	5  2  5  2  .435
Chavez ss	6  1  2  2  .313
Tiffee lf	5  1  2  3  .482
 Falkenborg p	0  0  0  0  .000
Lindsey 1b	5  0  0  0  .368
LaRoche 3b	3  1  1  1  .200
Repko cf	4  1  0  0  .219
Griffin rf-lf	5  1  2  1  .279
Ardoin c	4  2  0  0  .250
Johnson p	3  1  1  0  .333
 Koplove p	1  0  0  0  .000
 Howard ph	0  0  0  1  .311
 Ruan rf	0  0  0  0  .615
  Totals	37 10 13 10
  Albuquerque	33  1  9  1

  2B- Maza (6), Tiffee (17).
RBI- Chavez 2 (15), Tiffee 3
(27), LaRoche (3), Maza 2
(14), Griffin (13), Howard
(20). SF- Tiffee. LOB- Las 
Vegas 11, Albuquerque 10.
DP- Chavez, Maza and Lindsey.

  Las Vegas	in  h  r-er bb so  era
Johnson (3-2)	5.1  9  1-1  1  5  6.59
Koplove 	2.2  0  0-0  0  2  0.52
Falkenborg	1.0  0  0-0  0  2  6.55
  HBP- Repko. T- 2:57. Att- 3,917.

McDonald Continues to Struggle
Starter James McDonald (1-1, 5.28) was perfect through four innings but the visiting Tennessee Smokies roughed him up for five runs in the fifth inning and came away with a 6-0 victory, winning for the fifth time in six games over the Suns.

After the 23-year-old retired 12 consecutive batters and allowed only two balls to leave the infield, he was roughed up in the fifth inning, walking two and allowing a double. With two outs the Tennessee pitcher added an RBI single and consecutive doubles brought home the final three runs of the inning.

For the season, McDonald has a 2.74 ERA through the first four innings of six of his starts. But that average balloons to 18.75 after the fourth inning.

Suns pitching coach Glenn Dishman said, "It seemed like in the fifth inning after he gave up the hit to the pitcher, he went with all fastballs. I think he got out of his zone a little bit of what was getting outs early in the game. His velocity was still there, he was still pumping his fastball, but the little game plan we had changed and that affected his outing."

Dodger General Manager Ned Colletti used the opportunity to come to Jacksonville to see two of the Dodgers' top minor-league pitchers. He will stay for tonight's game to watch left-hander Clayton Kershaw (0-3, 1.40 ERA) before rejoining the Dodgers in Colorado for their weekend series with the Rockies.

Despite the rough fifth inning, the Dodgers general manager liked what he saw in McDonald. "He changed his speeds well and his breaking stuff and his change is very good. He's on his way to the big leagues at some point in time. That fifth inning, I'm not discouraged at all by that. That he can pitch the way he pitches is a huge plus."

The struggling Suns were held to four hits, two by James Tomlin.

Danny Muggee surrendered the sixth Tennessee run and Zach Hammes worked a scoreless ninth.

  Score by Innings
Tennessee	000 051 000-6
Jacksonville	000 000 000-0

  Jacksonville	ab r  h  bi ave
De Jesus ss	4  0  0  0  .306
JGonzalez 2b	4  0  0  0  .312
 Hammes p	0  0  0  0  .000
Tomlin cf	4  0  2  0  .350		
May c        	3  0  1  0  .340
Hoffmann rf	3  0  1  0  .250
Rivera 1b	3  0  0  0  .203
Godwin lf	3  0  0  0  .284
McDonald p	1  0  0  0  .200
 Mitchell ph	1  0  0  0  .290
 Muegge p	0  0  0  0  .000
 AGonzalez ph   0  0  0  0  .225
  Totals	29 0 0 0
  Tennessee	38 6 7 6

  Error- De Jesus (4). 2B-
Justis (4). LOB- Jacksonville
8, Tennessee 4. 
  
  Jacksonville	in  h  r-er bb so  era
McDonald (1-1)	5.0  4  5-5  2  4  5.27
Muegge 	        3.0  2  1-1  0  2  3.00
Hammes	        1.0  1  0-0  1  2  8.10
  T- 2:25. Att- 9,860.

Sixers Drop Lake Elsinore
Inland Empire, loser of eight of their last nine games, fought off a late Storm rally to win 8-7 and improve their record to 9-19.

Four runs in the bottom of the seventh turned a 5-4 deficit into an 8-7 lead. They sent eight to the plate with Christian Lara’s single opening the action. Bridger Hunt’s run scoring sacrifice bunt and a throwing error scoring Lara. Trayvon Robinson singled Hunt in but was thrown out stealing. With two out, Drew Locke worked a base on balls, Carlos Santana doubled him in and Eduardo Perez's RBI double scored the final run.

Inland Empire scored twice in the bottom of the first on RBI singles from Josh Bell and Santana. Matt Berezay doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the second and Santana knocked in another run in the third and

The 66ers 2007 supplemental first-rounder James Adkins but he was tagged for four runs on five hits before leaving in the fifth with the score tied 4-4.

Paul Koss surrendered a run in the seventh that put Lake Elsinore in the lead and Fernando Felix (1-2) came into end the inning. Felix was tagged for a pair of runs in the ninth before Jacobo Meque, who made his 2008 debut by retiring the final two batters.

Santana led Inland Empire with a single and a pair of doubles, good for three RBI. Robinson, Bell and Perez each knocked in a run for the winners.

Left-handed closer Brent Leach, (0-1, 1.35 ERA) who had three saves in three chances, was promoted to Double-A Jacksonville. He was replaced by Meque, who was 5-2 with a 4.72 ERA in 55 relief appearances for the Sixers last year. His spring training started late because he had visa problems getting out of the Dominican Republic and was kept in extended spring training until just before the game.

Third baseman Josh Bell continues to serve as the designated hitter as he continues on the road back from what was originally thought to be a knee injury. Bell said it started as a left hamstring strain, then affected his knee. "I've been cleared, but they want to baby it," Bell said.

Friday will see the 66ers host the San Jose Giants for the first game of a three game set.

  Score by Innings
Lake Elisnore	013 000 102-7
Inland Empire	211 000 40x-8

  Inland Empire	ab h  r  bi  ave
Hunt 2b 	4  1  1  0  .206
Robinson cf	5  1  2  1  .231
Bell dh        	3  2  1  1  .280
Locke 1b	2  1  0  0  .274
Santana c	4  1  3  3  .315
Perez 3b	4  0  2  1  .259
Berezay lf	4  1  2  0  .224
Giles rf	4  0  0  0  .268
Lara ss        	4  1  1  0  .260
  Totals	34 8 12 6
  Lake Elisnore	35 7  8 7

  Error- Perez (5). 2B- Robinson
(4), Berezay (3), Santana 2 (8),
Perez 2 (10). RBI- Bell (12),
Santana 3 (21), Robinson (9),
Perez (6). S- Locke, Hunt. LOB-
Inland Empire 6, Lake Elisnore
10. SB- Berezay (3), Bell (4).
CS- Robinson (4). DP- lara,
Hunt and Locke.

  Inland Empire	in  h  r-er bb so  era
Adkins        	4.1  5  4-4  4  0  4.00
Koss        	2.1  1  1-1  2  1  1.69
Felix (1-2) 	1.2  2  2-2  2  1  3.66
Meque (sv 1)	0.2  0  0-0  1  0  0.00
  T- 3:05. Att- 1,272.

Loons Can't Snap Streak
Brad Golder/Loons.com
The Great Lakes Loons tied the game on two separate occasions, including in the ninth inning to force extra innings. But Beloit struck for three runs in the 10th to pick up a 5-2 win Thursday at Dow Diamond on Going Green Night.  

The loss for the Loons is their seventh straight, one shy of a franchise worst, and drops their record to 11-15.   

With the game tied 2-2 in the 10th inning and runners at first and third, a triple and three singles scored three runs.   

After Beloit took an early 1-0 lead in the first, Jaime Ortiz blasted his fifth home run of the season to tie the game at one. Ortiz has now homered in three consecutive games.   

The Snappers took advantage of a gift in the seventh inning to take a 2-1 lead. Following a two-out walk, Mark Dolenc took off for second base on a pitchout. Kenley Jansen’s throw beat Dolenc to the bag, but Preston Mattingly applied a high tag that Dolenc slid under for a stolen base. Dolenc then scored on a single to right-center by Chris Cates.   

The Loons tied the game in the ninth inning. Erik Kanaby reached on an error by shortstop Ramon Santana, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brian Mathews, and scored on an RBI double by Andrew Lambo.  The hit for Lambo snapped an 0-for-14 slump.   

Bobby Blevins (2-3) was saddled with the loss, surrendering the three runs in the 10th. Daigoro Rondon started for the Loons and pitched deeper into the game (6.2 innings) than any Loons pitcher has pitched this season.  He allowed two runs (both earned) striking out six.   

The Loons and Snappers meet for the second game of the series tonight at Dow Diamond. The festivities at the ballpark include a post-game fireworks spectacular, powered by Dow Corning.information about the Loons, visit Loons.com or call 989-837-BALL.

 Score by innings
Beloit	        100 000 103-5	
Great Lakes	010 000 010-2

 Great Lakes	ab r  h  bi  ave
Rosario cf	4  0  0  0  .272
Kanaby lf	3  1  0  0  .172
Mathews 3b	3  0  0  0  .221
Lambo dh	4  0  1  1  .279
Ortiz 1b	4  1  2  1  .193
Mattingly 2b	4  0  0  0  .181
Becker ss	4  0  0  0  .227
Jansen c	4  0  0  0  .218
Van Slyke rf	2  0  0  0  .156
  Totals	32 2  3 2
  Beloit	38 5 10 5

 Error- Van Slyke (2). 2b hit- Lambo (9).
HR- Ortiz (5). RBI- Ortiz (10), Lambo
(20). S- Mathews. LOB- Great Lakes 4,
Beloit 8.

 Great Lakes	in  h  r-er bb so  era
Rondon	        6.2  6  2-2  1  6  6.45
Blevns (2-3)	3.1  4  2-2  2  0  2.89
 HBP- by Rondon. T- 2:44. Att- 2,458.