Anderson ends nightmare in 12th RBI single trips up Lumberjacks

loading...

ORONO – New Jersey’s John Anderson was living a leadoff hitter’s nightmare, going 0-for-6 through 11 innings of Friday night’s Northeast League baseball game against the Bangor Lumberjacks.

Not only that, he was the only Jackal without a hit.

But Anderson got one more chance, and he made it count, singling home Chris Rowan with two out in the top of the 12th to lift the Jackals to a 9-8 victory in a marathon that lasted 4 hours and 4 minutes.

The win spoiled a four-run comeback by Bangor, which trailed 8-4 but scored one run in the eighth and three runs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

The loss drops Bangor to 4-3 in the second half of the NEL season, while New Jersey is 4-4.

The Lumberjacks forced extra innings the dramatic way, scoring three runs on four straight hits in the ninth off New Jersey closer Ben Grezlovski, who entered the game with an 0.59 earned run average.

Brad Hargreaves started the rally with a one-out single, and he scored on a double to left-center by pinch-hitter Nick Saunders to pull Bangor within 8-6. Schuyler Doakes then doubled home Saunders, and Doakes scored the tying run on a single to center by Sandy Martinez before Grezlovski retired the next two batters.

Neither team threatened until the top of the 12th, when New Jersey put runners on first and third with one out against Bangor closer Santiago Henry (4-2). Rowan reached on an infield hit and went to second on an errant throw by Martinez, the shortstop. Craig Conway then singled to center, advancing Rowan to third.

Jeff Sparks came on to relieve Henry – and to face Anderson – but Anderson won the battle, singling to left to drive home Rowan with the go-ahead run.

Righthander Chris Keelin relieved Grezlovski (5-2) in the 12th and struck out the side to earn his sixth save.

Rowan and Conway, the Nos. 8 and 9 batters in the New Jersey lineup, each had three hits for New Jersey, which finished with 18 hits against five Bangor pitchers. Joe Kerrigan, son of the former Boston Red Sox manager, added two hits, including a three-run home run.

First baseman Donnie Ross paced Bangor’s 11-hit attack with a pair of home runs, his 10th and 11th of the season, and three RBIs. Doakes had three hits and three runs scored, while Lorenzo de la Cruz doubled and singled.

The ‘Jacks used two infield hits, a walk and the speed of Doakes to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Doakes led off the inning by beating out an infield hit to the shortstop hole. After moving to second on a one-out walk to Ross, Doakes surprised the New Jersey defense by racing home from second on de la Cruz’s infield single – a high, high chopper over third baseman Keith Maxwell that shortstop Rowan fielded but had no subsequent play at home.

Kerrigan erased that lead in the top of the third, crushing the first pitch he saw over the fence down the right-field line for a three-run home run off Bangor starter Brandon Bowe to give the Jackals a 3-1 lead.

Ross countered with a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the inning. Doakes singled off the glove of New Jersey first baseman Mike Glendenning, and one out later Ross blasted the seventh pitch of his at-bat over the fence in right.

Kerrrigan’s fourth RBI of the night was part of a two-run rally in the New Jersey fifth that gave the Jackals a 5-3 lead and marked the end of Bowe’s night on the mound. Rowan and Conway opened the inning with singles, and Rowan scored one out later on a fielder’s choice grounder by Kerrigan against reliever Roger Kalinowski. Kerrigan then scored as Darren Blakely double down the left-field line off the glove of a diving Doakes.

Ross went first-pitch hunting with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, and was rewarded with his second homer of the night, a solo shot that drew Bangor within 5-4.

JACKALS 9, LUMBERJACKS 8

(Friday Night, 12 innings)

New Jersey (4-4) Bangor (4-3)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Anderson, lf 7 1 1 1 Doakes, lf-cf 6 3 1

Karrigan, dh 7 2 2 4 Martinez, ss 6 0 1

Blakely, cf 7 1 2 1 Ross, 1b 5 2 3

Glendenning, 1b 4 1 1 0 de la Cruz, rf 6 1

Bailey, rf 6 1 2 1 LeBron, dh 4 1 1

McKee, c 6 0 2 1 Brock, 3b-2b 6 0 0

Maxwell, 3b 5 0 2 1 Tindell, cf 3 0 0

Rowan, ss 5 3 3 0 Thompson, lf 2 0 0

Conway, 2b 6 0 3 0 Hargreaves, c 5 1 0

O’Sullivan, 2b 3 0 0 0

Saunders, 3b 2 1 1 1

Totals 53 9 18 9 Totals 48 8 11 8

New Jersey 003 020 300 001 9

Bangor 102 010 013 000 8

E?Conway, Martinez 2; LOB?New Jersey 12, Bangor 7; 2B?Blakely, Bailey 2, Rowan, Doakes, de la Cruz,Saunders; HR?Kerrigan (2), Ross 2 (11), LeBron (2); SB?Doakes, Martinez, LeBron

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Macotte 7 6 4 4 2 4

Smith 1 1 1 1 0 0

Grezlovski (W,5-2) 3 4 3 3 0 3

Keelin (S, 6) 1 0 0 0 1 3

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Bowe 4 1/3 5 5 5 0 4

Kalinowski 1 4 0 0 0 0

Thomas 3 2/3 6 3 3 1 3

Henry (L,4-2) 2 1/3 2 1 1 0 2

Sparks 2/3 1 0 0 0 0

HBP?Glendenning by Kalinowski, Maxwell by Thomas, Rowan by Bowe; PB?Hargreaves; T?4:04; ATT?769