Lumberjacks rally to sweep Brockton

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ORONO – The Bangor Lumberjacks received two solid starting pitching efforts and almost wasted one of them, but staged a last-at-bat rally to sweep a doubleheader against Brockton (Mass.) on an overcast, clammy and slightly soggy Sunday afternoon.

Bangor pitchers John Vigue and Jerry Long kept the Rox from rolling offensively and the Lumberjacks got some offensive heroics in the second game to post 6-2 and 4-3 Northeast League victories at the University of Maine’s Mahaney Diamond.

Bangor is now 8-11 and Brockton is 12-8.

In the second game, Bangor got four straight hits in the bottom of the seventh to erase a 3-2 deficit and the disappointment of blowing a 2-0 lead a half-inning earlier.

Mitsuru Kobayashi singled to shallow left and Todd Brock beat out a bunt to the right side before pinch-hitter Donnie Ross stepped in for Juan Silvestre. Rather than hit away, Ross bunted on the first pitch and laid a beauty down to the left side for another infield single. With the bases loaded, cleanup hitter Lorenzo de la Cruz missed badly on the first pitch, but connected on the second and stung a hard grounder to the left side. Third baseman Mike Davis lunged at the ball and knocked it down, but Kobayashi scored to tie it and Brock beat the throw home for the win.

“What I can say to you is I just tried to put the ball in play,” de la Cruz said. “When you get a hit like that, you are so happy you want to jump up and down.”

The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 1-0 third inning lead courtesy of back-to-back, one-out singles by Brock and Silvestre. De la Cruz walked to load the bases and Brock scored on Mo Blakeney’s sacrifice fly to center.

Bangor took a 2-0 lead in the fourth and chased starter Chad Ward after Mitsuru Kobayashi hit a one-out RBI single to shallow right center with the hit-and-run on.

Brockton rallied after Long struck out the first batter in the seventh. Jermaine Swinton drew a walk and Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp elected to replace him with Donnie Thomas.

“Donnie gets paid to get left-handed hitters out and he had a great season doing that last year,” Beauchamp said. “Jerry made it tough on me by walking Swinton with two lefthanders coming up. I had to play percentages and hey, it all worked out.”

Thomas yielded a single and then retired the next batter on a fly to left. Beauchamp then brought in Santiago Henry to finish, but Henry walked Willie Edwards on a 3-2 pitch and then gave up a two-run double to Melvin Rosario. Another walk later, Beauchamp was ejected by home plate umpire Todd Shield for the second time in three days after Beauchamp argued a ball call on a 2-2 pitch to Mike Davis, who grounded out to end the inning.

“You can’t give hitters four strikes and two guys got four strikes. That’s why I left the game early,” Beauchamp said. “He ejected me the other night saying I argued balls and strikes when I wasn’t. I was arguing balls and strikes today.

“That’s not a bad time to get kicked out right there. Sometimes ejections can motivate a team and that was probably a good time.”

Long (1-1) missed out on a win, but still walked away with another quality start, allowing two hits, two walks and one earned run while striking out six hitters in 6 1/3 innings.

“The strike zone floated a little bit, but I went away a lot today… More than usual,” said Long, who credited a two-seam fastball and a solid breaking ball for his success.”

In the first game, Vigue improved to 1-1 with a strong outing and pitcher-utility player Matt Tindell went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI to lead the ‘Jacks to victory.

Vigue allowed four hits, three walks and two runs in five innings while striking out five. He threw 83 pitches.

“This is one of my better outings. I’ve tried to change my approach and take it a batter at a time instead of trying to throw a shutout before I’d even thrown a pitch,” said the 24-year-old righthander. “I took it one pitch at a time and that really paid off.”

Vigue kept Brockton batters off balance with an effective curve and an inside fastball that complemented his best pitch: the changeup.

Brockton scored first in the first after leadoff hitter Nestor Smith was hit by a pitch. Back-to-back singles by Mike Davis and Saul Bustos scored Smith, but Vigue escaped further damage by picking Davis off first and having Bustos thrown out at second trying to stretch his single into a double.

Bangor more than answered in its half of the first by putting up three runs. Kobayashi singled to lead off, Brock was hit by a pitch, and one out later, Kobayashi scored on a Silvestre double to the left field wall. An intentional walk to de la Cruz loaded the bases for Blakeney, who popped out in right field foul territory. Tindell, starting in right, then singled deep into the third base hole and Brad Hargreaves scored the third run (Silvestre) with a perfectly-struck bunt single to the left side

Brockton cut its deficit to one run in the fifth on Mike Torres’ one-out homer to right center. It was his second homer and fourth RBI of the series. The ‘Jacks got that run back and then some in the sixth.

De la Cruz led off with a single, went to third on Tindell’s one-out single, and scored on Hargreaves’ sacrifice fly. After Kenichi Miura singled, Kobayashi hit a two-run single to shallow left center.

LUMBERJACKS 6, ROX 2

(Sunday’s First Game)

Brockton (12-7) Bangor (7-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, cf 2 1 0 0 Kobayashi, ss 4 1 2

Davis,2b 3 0 1 0 Brock, 3b 3 1 0

Bustos, ss 2 0 1 1 Ross, 1b 3 0 0

Lewis,1b 3 0 0 0 Silvestre, lf 3 1 1

Swinton, dh 3 0 0 0 de la Cruz, dh 2 1 0

Daubert, 3b 3 0 0 0 Blakeney, cf 3 0 0

Rosario, c 2 0 0 0 Tindell, rf 3 1 1

Torres, lf 3 1 2 1 Hargreaves, c 2 0 2

Edwards, rf 2 0 1 0 Miura, 2b 3 1 0

Totals 23 2 5 2 Totals 26 6 9 6

Brockton 100 010 0 – 2

Bangor 300 003 x – 6

E-; LOB-Brockton 4; Bangor 5; 2B-Silvestre, Tindell; HR- Torres (3); SF-Hargreaves; SB-Lewis

Brockton IP H R ER BB SO

Allen (L, 2-2) 6 9 6 6 1 6

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Vigue, (W,1-1) 5 4 2 2 3 5

Bowe 1 0 0 0 0 1

Thomas 1 1 0 0 0 0

HBP-Smith by Vigue; Brock by Allen; WP-Vigue; T-1:57; ATT-1,154

LUMBERJACKS 4, ROX 3

(Sunday’s Second Game)

Brockton (12-8) Bangor (8-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, cf 3 0 1 0 Kobayashi, ss 3 1 1

Davis, 2b-3b 4 0 0 0 Brock, 3b 4 2 0

Bustos, ss 3 0 0 0 Silvestre, lf 3 0 0

Lewis, 1b 3 0 0 0 b-Ross 1 0 1 0

Medina, lf 0 0 0 0 de la Cruz, dh 3 0 2

Swinton, dh 1 0 0 0 Blakeney, cf 2 0 1

a-Booker 0 1 0 0 Tindell, rf 2 0 0

Daubert, 3b-1b 3 1 2 0 King, 1b 3 0 0

Torres, lf-2b 3 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 3 1 0

Edwards, rf 2 1 0 0 Miura, 2b 2 0 0

Landry, c 1 0 0 0 Miura, 2b 2 0 0

Rosario, c 2 0 1 3

Totals 25 3 4 3 Totals 26 4 10 4

a-ran for Swinton in 7th, b-singled for Silvestre in 7th

Brockton 000 000 3 – 3

Bangor 001 100 2 – 4

E-Tindell; LOB-Brockton 5; Bangor 9; 2B-Daubert, Rosario; DP-Smith-Davis; SF-Blakeney; SB-Smith, Kobayashi, Brock, Blakeney, Hargreaves

Brockton IP H R ER BB SO

Ward 3? 6 2 2 4 2

Stutz 2? 0 0 0 0 1

Brooks (L, 0-1) ? 4 2 2 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long 6? 2 1 1 2 6

Thomas ? 1 1 1 0 0

Henry (W, 2-0) ? 1 1 1 2 0

WP-Henry; PB-Hargreaves; T-2:31; ATT-1,154