Blaze rages on
| Tuesday, Sep 15 2009 11:26 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 16 2009 08:00 PM
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Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Bakersfield Blaze #33 Ian Gac rounds third base after hitting a 3 run home run in their playoff game against the San Jose Giants.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian The San Jose Giants mascot helps 4-year-old Gracie Maxwell in a race against the Blaze mascot, "Heater." Gracie is Blaze pitcher, Justin Miller's, cousin.
Henry A. Barrios / The Californian Bakersfield Blaze #33 Ian Gac rounds third base after hitting a 3 run home run in their playoff game against the San Jose Giants.
Unseasonably moderate temperatures did little to cool down the red-hot Bakersfield Blaze or tempers Tuesday night at Sam Lynn Ball Park.
With a summer temperature in the mid-70s, Ian Gac drove in six runs and Bakersfield staved off elimination again with an 11-4 victory over the San Jose Giants in a game delayed when both benches cleared following the second of two hit batters.
"We'd love to bring a championship home," Gac said of Bakersfield, which last won a Cal League title in 1989. "When our backs are against the wall, we're going to find a way to get up."
The Blaze victory evens the best-of-five series at two games apiece and sets up tonight's deciding Game 5 of the California League North Division championship at 7:15 in San Jose. Left-hander Richard Bleier, who won the clincher in the opening round against the Modesto Nuts, is scheduled to start for Bakersfield, squaring off against San Jose right-hander David Mixon.
"It's the same situation again," Gac said. "We lose, we go home; we win, we go on. Hopefully we can do the same thing we did against Modesto."
Gac got things started in the first with a two-run double and then launched a towering drive off the 50-foot sunscreen beyond the centerfield fence for a three-run homer in the third. He capped Bakersfield's scoring with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
The Blaze scored four more in the fourth, capitalizing on an error and three wild pitches, and then added solo runs in the fifth and sixth.
Bakersfield, which closed the regular season with 25 wins in its final 30 games, is 4-0 in elimination games during the playoffs and remained perfect at home in the postseason.
After spotting the Giants a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first, Bakersfield responded with runs in five of its first six at-bats.
"We've been down by a run before we even came up to the plate in about every game during the playoffs, so we're used to it," said left-fielder Mike Bianucci, who ignited the bench-clearing incident after being hit in the side in the sixth. "We always battle back, that's something we always do. That's what good teams do."
Tempers began to boil in the top of the sixth when, with two outs and nobody on, San Jose leadoff batter Darren Ford was hit in the side by Bakersfield starter Tanner Roark.
Ford stayed down for several minutes and then had to be assisted off the field.
The following inning, the first pitch to Bianucci was thrown behind him by Giants reliever Trey Webb.
The next pitch hit Bianucci in the side and Bakersfield's left fielder began to walk toward the mound as both benches ran onto the field.
When order was restored, Webb was ejected and both teams were warned.
"That's baseball; something like that happens," Bianucci said. "But it definitely makes it that much sweeter with the end result that we won the game."
With the Blaze leading 5-1, the Giants rallied against Roark, scoring three runs on four hits to cut their deficit to 5-4.
But Bakersfield answered with four runs to regain control.
Roark shook off a rocky start when the Blaze committed three errors in the first, and wound up going seven innings, allowing seven hits, walking four and striking out five.
