ORONO – At 5-foot-9, he’s easy to miss in a crowd, but Steve Hine is standing tall in the Bangor Blue Ox lineup this season.

Hine capped off another great night at the plate with a game-winning solo homer leading off the bottom of the 11th as Bangor edged Massachusetts 7-6 at Mahaney Diamond Tuesday night.

Bangor moves to 3-2 and the Mad Dogs slump to 1-4.

Hine guessed right on a 3-1 fastball from loser Pablo Reyes and launched the ball over the fence in right center.

“I knew he’d come with the fastball because I knew he didn’t want to walk me,” said Hine. “They didn’t have any lefties in the bullpen so I knew he had to come right at me.”

Hine continued his assault on Northeast League pitching with a 3-for-5 performance. It was his fourth multiple-hit outing in five games.

Hine is now hitting .522 (12-for-23) with 10 runs, three RBIs, and three doubles.

Hine’s shot made a winner out of Garrett Quinn, the University of Maine righthander who took the loss in his pro debut Monday night.

“I told him last night before he left here he’s going to continue to get the ball,” said Bangor manager Roger LaFrancois. “I like his demeanor on the mound.”

Quinn, who pitched two innings of one-hit shutout ball, appreciated the confidence his manager showed in him.

“He’s shown a lot of confidence in everybody, letting them bounce back,” he said.

“I didn’t have the velocity I had last night, coming back without much rest, so I concentrated on keeping the ball low,” said Quinn, who threw 23 of his 32 pitches for strikes.

The Blue Ox tied the game with a two-out rally in the bottom of the ninth thanks to – you guessed it – Hine, who started things by walking after facing a 1-2 count.

Hugh Walker swung at the first pitch from Reyes and legged out a double as Hine was held at third.

After throwing a ball to Bob Zupcic, Reyes unleashed a wild pitch that sailed to the backstop and Hine scored standing up.

Dogs manager George Scott gambled and had Reyes intentionally walk the next two batters – Zupcic and Tim Morrow – to load the bases. The move paid off as Reyes struck out Gabe Duross on three straight pitches.

The scoring in this game came early as Dogs’ designated hitter Andre Keene followed Kory Witmer’s one-out single in the top of the first with his first home run of the season – a 390-foot shot just barely over the fence in left center.

Bangor didn’t give Dogs’ starter Jay Murphy long to savor the early lead, however, as Dave Ekelund and Hine led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles.

That brought Walker to the plate, and the former Northeast League MVP jumped all over a 1-0 fastball and ripped a screaming liner that took about one second to clear the fence in right field.

Walker’s first homer of the season made it 3-2 Bangor.

Bangor took a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth with two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The Mad Dogs came back with a pair of their own in the sixth on Isaiah Nunez’s RBI triple down the alley in left center and Shwartzer’s RBI groundout.

Blue Ox 7, Mad Dogs 6

(11 innings)

Massachusetts (1-4) Bangor (3-2)

Name ab r h bi Name ab r h bi

Brown, cf 5 0 1 0 Ekelund, ss 5 1 2 0

Witmer, rf 3 1 1 0 Hine, 2b 5 4 3 1

Moon, rf 3 0 1 0 Walker, lf 5 2 3 3

Keene, dh 5 1 3 2 Zupcic, dh 3 0 0 1

Wenhemer,dh 1 0 0 0 Morrow, rf 4 0 1 0

Colon, 3b 6 0 2 0 Duross, 1b 5 0 0 0

DeLeon, rf 4 2 1 0 R. Nunez, 3b 5 0 3 0

I. Nunez, 1b 5 2 2 1 White, cf 4 0 1 0

Shwartzer, c 3 0 0 1 Mota, c 5 0 0 0

Montero, c 1 0 0 0

Giardi, ss 5 0 3 2

Holmes, 2b 4 0 1 0

Stelly, 2b 1 0 0 0

Totals 46 6 15 6 Totals 41 7 13 5

Massachusetts 2000 0202 000 – 6

Bangor 3000 2000 101 – 7

E – Colon, Holmes, R. Nunez, Hreben 2B – Colon, Giardi, Walker 3B – I. Nunez, Giardi HR – Keene, Hine, Walker LOB – Massachusetts 12, Bangor 10 DP – Colon-I. Nunez; Hine-Ekelund-Duross, Morrow-Duross SB – Walker; R. Nunez S – I. Nunez; White SF – Zupcic

PITCHER IP H R ER BB SO

Massachusetts

Murphy 6 10 5 3 1 5

Reyes (L,0-1) 4 3 2 2 3 5

Bangor

Christmas 6 7 4 4 2 2

Quirk 1 2 2 2 1 1

Hreben 2 4 0 0 1 2

Quinn (W,1-1) 2 2 0 0 0 2

WP – Murphy, Reyes PB – Shwartzer 2 TIME – 3:42 ATTENDANCE – 326