De la Cruz leads ‘Jacks past Elmira Bowe hurls four-hitter for Bangor

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ORONO – Bangor Lumberjacks cleanup hitter Lorenzo de la Cruz was the Northeast League’s Most Valuable Player last season.

Lately he has been showing why.

De la Cruz walloped a three-run homer in the first inning and doubled home a third-inning run – his 11th hit in his last 23 at-bats – to power the Lumberjacks to a 10-1 victory over the Elmira Pioneers at Mahaney Diamond on Wednesday night.

The Lumberjacks touched up loser Dan Head for 13 hits and 10 runs in four-plus innings to post their fourth win in five games. They will play the rubber game of their three-game series against the Pioneers at 7:15 p.m. Thursday.

The Lumberjacks grabbed the lead for good in the first inning on de la Cruz’s second homer in as many games and his seventh of the season.

Sandy Martinez started the rally with a one-out bunt single and the Jacks received a gift when second baseman Rolando Bello dropped shortstop Cleatus Davidson’s toss on Donnie Ross’ potential inning-ending double-play grounder.

Head got ahead of de la Cruz 0-2 but de la Cruz fouled off 0-2 and 3-2 pitches before turning on a pitch and drilling it over the fence in left center field.

“I knew it was a home run as soon as I hit it,” said de la Cruz. “He threw me a fastball. It was from the middle [of the plate] in.”

De la Cruz said his recent hitting tear can be attributed to “being more patient and working on my feet.”

He said he “tried to do too much” earlier in the season when he was mired in a slump.

Elmira scored an unearned run in the second when Scott Hunter singled, stole second and scored on throwing errors by catcher Brad Hargreaves and center fielder Schuyler Doakes.

The ‘Jacks got that run back in the bottom on the third on back-to-back doubles by Ross and de la Cruz.

Bangor scored four more runs in the fourth inning.

Todd Brock opened the inning by hitting his sixth homer of the season, a liner that just cleared the left-field fence. Hargreaves then hit a double to right-center that center fielder Ryan Webb lost in the lights. Doakes reached on a high-chopping infield single, Martinez dropped an RBI single into right-center and Ross pulled a sharp two-run double to right.

“He threw me a change-up,” said Ross. “He threw a lot of change-ups.”

Bangor chased Head in the fifth when Mark Burke lashed a double to right and scored on Brock’s crisp single to center.

Brock eventually scored on reliever Kenichiro Kawabata’s wild pitch, his second of the inning.

“It was one of those nights. Everybody was seeing the ball good and we were all putting good swings on the ball,” said Ross.

The beneficiary of the Lumberjacks’ 15-hit attack was 27-year-old right-hander Brandon Bowe, who cruised to his second win in five decisions.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Bowe went the distance, limiting the Pioneers to four hits while striking out five and not walking anyone. He threw 67 strikes among his 89 pitches. He retired 14 hitters in a row during one stretch.

LUMBERJACKS 10, PIONEERS 1

ELMIRA BANGOR

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Abreu, 3b 4 0 0 0 Doakes, cf 5 1 0

Davidson, ss 4 0 0 0 Martinez, ss 5 2 1

Alvarez, lf 2 0 0 0 Ross, 1b 5 2 2

Baker, lf 2 0 1 0 de la Cruz, rf 4 1 4

Hunter, rf 4 1 2 0 Tindell, rf 0 0 0

Jones, dh 3 0 0 0 LeBron, lf 4 0 0

Lehr, 1b 3 0 1 0 Thompson, lf 0 0 0

Marconi, c 2 0 0 0 Burke, dh 3 1 0

Bello, 2b 2 0 0 0 Dworken, dh 1 0 0

Wagner, 2b 1 0 0 0 Brock, 2b 3 2 2

Webb, cf 3 0 0 0 O’Sullivan, 2b 1 0 0

Saunders, 3b 4 0 1 0

Hargreaves, c 4 1 2 0

Totals 30 1 4 0 Totals 39 10 15 9

Elmira 010 000 000 ? 1

Bangor 301 420 00X ? 10

E?Bello; Doakes, Hargreaves; LOB?Elmira 3, Bangor 5; 2B?Ross 2, de la Cruz, Burke, Hargreaves; HR?de la Cruz (7), Brock (6); DP?Saunders to Ross; SB?Hunter

Elmira IP H R ER BB SO

Head (L, 2-5) 4 13 10 9 0 2

Kawabata 3 1 0 0 0 3

Perez 1 1 0 0 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Bowe (W, 2-3) 9 4 1 1 1 5

WP?Head, Kawabata 2; T?2:32; ATT?699