ORONO – A “regular” night of rest coupled with the absence of a long bus trip appeared to rejuvenate the Bangor Lumberjacks Saturday night.

The Lumberjacks convincingly snapped a three-game losing streak with an 8-1 victory over the New Jersey Jackals on a warm – and much drier – night at Mahaney Diamond on the University of Maine campus.

No one personified Bangor’s offensive revival more than first baseman Jude Voltz. After suffering a severe power outage (0-for-5, four strikeouts) Friday night, Voltz was plugged in Saturday as he hit an RBI triple in his first at-bat and a two-run homer in his second.

“Baseball’s a silly game,” Voltz said, when asked about his night-and-day performances. “We had a bad start and we’re searching for a rhythm at the plate and trying to make contact. This is really the first game that I’ve felt comfortable at the plate.”

Todd Brock also paced the 2-3 ‘Jacks with two of their six hits.

Complementing the offense was pitcher Tim Rall. The 23-year-old lefthander from Lynbrook, N.Y., notched a win in his professional baseball debut by allowing only three hits in six innings of work while striking out eight batters and walking three.

“This was his first professional start and he shut down the best-hitting team in the league,” said Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp.

“His changeup was exceptional,” said player-pitching coach Kevin Pincavitch. “He came in with a below-average change and now it’s average or better than that. He has three legitimate pitches now with his fastball, change, and curve.”

Beauchamp was surprised Rall was still available when it was time for Bangor to make its first pick (seventh overall) in the Northeast League draft.

After seeing Rall pitch at an independent league tryout camp in Florida, Beauchamp thought he’d be the top pick.

“That just shows you how hit-or-miss the scouting system is,” Beauchamp said. “I’ll tell you, it’s amazing to me that a hard-throwing lefty like him went through the entire Northern League draft undrafted.”

The Lumberjacks scored first for a second straight night with two runs in the first inning. Mitsuro Kobayashi’s one-out single was followed by an RBI triple by Voltz and a sacrifice fly by Lorenzo de la Cruz.

In the third inning, it was the 2-3-4 hitters again doing the damage for Bangor as a Kobayashi walk with one out set up a 390-foot, two-run clout over the right-center field fence by Voltz.

The next batter – de la Cruz – walked, stole second, and advanced to third on a catcher’s throwing error. Juan Silvestre then walked to put runners at the corners for Brock. He jumped all over a 1-0 fastball from starter Joe Magri and launched it over the fence and into the adjacent Alfond Sports Stadium visitors’ stands. The 420-foot shot made it 7-0 Bangor.

New Jersey, now 6-3, got on the board in the top of the fourth courtesy of Travis Bailey’s leadoff home run, a 380-foot shot to right-center off a 1-2 Rall fastball that gave Bailey his NEL-leading fourth homer.

Bangor got the run back in the fourth as Stephen King led off with a walk, Brad Hargreaves walked, King went to third on a flyout to center, and Kobayashi scored King with a sharp groundout to third.

Also aiding Bangor’s turnaround was a defensive realignment in which Beauchamp moved Brock from second to third and inserted Kobayashi into the second position in the lineup and on the field. Bangor committed no errors with the revamped lineup.

Game Notes – The new public address system went silent in the top of the fifth inning Saturday night, just as the “Lumberjack race,” where team employees race along the right field fence with colored circles mounted on the ends of long sticks, entered the final stretch.

All fans can see is the three colors – yellow refers to general admission, green is reserved, and red corresponds to box seats – bobbing along the top of the outfield fence as the race is run. The “winner” means Lumberjacks employees will go to that section later that inning and throw two boxes of ice cream bars into the crowd.

Although Saturday night’s winning section did get its ice cream, it was a bit of a surprise since the official winner was never announced.

“Yeah, that was too bad,” said Ryan Conley of Ellsworth. “I was carrying the green one and my sign broke [during the race], so it was kind of a tough night for the Lumberjack race.”

The PA system remained silent for the next four innings and finally came back on after a Bronson Communications representative fixed the problem (blown fuse) in the top of the ninth.

In the meantime, PA announcer Abel Gleason tried to keep the atmosphere from getting too library-like as he exhorted fans to sing, do the wave, and cheer when he wasn’t announcing the next batter by shouting at the top of his lungs while sitting behind home plate about 10 rows up.

LUMBERJACKS 8, JACKALS 1

(Saturday Night)

New Jersey (6-3) Bangor (2-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Harris, cf 4 0 0 0 Miura, ss 4 0 0

Blakely, lf 3 0 0 0 Kobayashi, 2b 3 2 1

Bailey, rf 4 1 2 1 Voltz, 1b 4 2 3

Clendenning, 1b 4 0 0 0 de la Cruz, dh 2 1

Pagan, dh 3 0 1 0 Silvestre, lf 2 1 0

a-L’Italien 1 0 0 0 Tindell, lf 1 0 0

Rowan, ss 3 0 0 0 Brock, 3b 4 1 3

Maxwell, 3b 3 0 0 0 Blakeney, cf 3 0 0

Dworken, c 2 0 0 0 King, rf 3 1 0

Conway, 2b 2 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 1 0 0

Totals 29 1 3 1 Totals 28 8 6 8

a-flied out for Pagan in ninth

New Jersey 000 100 000 ? 1

Bangor 205 100 00x ? 8

E?Dworken; LOB?New Jersey 6, Lumberjacks 1; 3B?Voltz; HR?Bailey (4); Voltz (1), Brock (1); SF?de la Cruz; SB?de la Cruz

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Magri (L,0-1) 3 6 8 8 4 1

Henderson 3 0 0 0 0 2

Smith 2 0 0 0 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Rall (W,1-0) 6 3 1 1 3 8

Kalinowski 1 0 0 0 0 0

Henry 2 0 0 0 1 1

HBP?Rowan by Henry; BK?Rall; PB?Hargreaves; T?2:29; ATT?1,249