Long, Lumberjacks complete three-game sweep of Berkshire

loading...

ORONO – Jerry Long turned in what may have been his finest performance of the season Sunday with a five-hitter and led the Bangor Lumberjacks to a 4-1 win and a three-game sweep of the Berkshire Black Bears.

“This was by far the best game I’ve had this year, command-wise,” said the right-hander from Plymouth, Pa. “I had trouble with my control in past games, but I only had one walk today.”

Long utilized a two-seam inside fastball most often as he threw 22 of 32 first pitches and 70 of his 109 total pitches for strikes en route to striking out seven batters.

“He was phenomenal. He looked like the Jerry Long from the beginning of the year. When he was struggling earlier, walks were the big problem,” said pitching coach-pitcher Kevin Pincavitch, whose managerial record is now 3-0 since stepping in for Kash Beauchamp, who is attending his stepfather’s funeral. “I was expecting six or seven good innings and he pitched a complete game.”

Long (2-5) lowered his ERA from 3.93 to 3.60 with his third complete game of the season.

“I threw more fastballs today than usual. They were running good for me today and I used them with my overhand breaking ball,” Long said. “I worked the inner half a lot early and then started going outside as the game wore on.”

Bangor jumped on the Black Bears early with three runs in the first. Schuyler Doakes led off with his fifth hit in his last five at-bats (he would double in his next at-bat to go 6-for-6 before the string ended). A groundout later, Donnie Ross and Juan LeBron each drew walks to load the bases. Mark Burke then ripped a grounder to first, but the ball took a bad hop past first baseman Mark Burnett for a two-run single.

“The way our offense is now, when we had that lull for a week and a half, we weren’t doing the little things,” Burke said. “We’re doing a better job of hitting and running and getting guys over.”

The Lumberjacks have started putting together offense, defense and pitching in the same games.

“Everyone’s in the right spot right now and it’s translating into wins,” Burke added.

Lorenzo de la Cruz followed with a single down the third-base line to score LeBron.

The Lumberjacks tacked on another run in the fifth as Brad Hargreaves singled to left with one out, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Ross’ groundout.

“The first night, Juan had the big hit. Today it was Burke. Guys are coming up with clutch hits at clutch times,” Pincavitch said. “That wasn’t happening at the beginning of the year.”

Berkshire finally cracked the scoreboard in the eighth as center fielder Edwin Thompson misjudged a crisp liner hit off the bat of Ryan Tash and Tash turned it into a triple. He scored on a groundout by Jose Mateo.

The ‘Jacks are now 13-14 in the North Division and three games behind leader Quebec with a six-game road trip starting Monday. Berkshire is now 9-17 in the South.

On Saturday, Doakes went 4-for-4 with a triple, three singles, two RBIs, two runs and a stolen base to help spark the ‘Jacks to a 7-1 victory, but closer Jeff Sparks provided most of the electricity.

The right-hander from Tampa, Fla., who became the team’s closer in the second half of the season, subbed for injured starter Brandon Bowe and threw five shutout innings while allowing four hits. He also struck out eight and walked two batters.

Sparks had pitched only four innings in the last 10 days.

Roger Kalinowski threw three innings of hitless relief with four strikeouts and Orlando Woodards pitched the ninth.

LUMBERJACKS 7, BLACK BEARS 1

(Saturday Night)

Berkshire (9-16) Bangor (12-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mateo, ss 5 0 1 0 Doakes, 2b 4 2 2

Burnett, 2b 4 0 1 0 O’Sullivan, 2b 1 0 0

Hopper, dh 3 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 2 2 1

Crespo, lf 2 0 0 0 Dworken, c 1 0 0

Paciorek, 1b 4 0 1 0 Ross, 1b 3 0 1

Jones, rf 3 1 1 0 LeBron, dh 3 1 1

Forbes, cf 4 0 0 0 Burke, dh 2 0 1

Tash, 3b 4 0 2 1 de la Cruz, rf 4 0 1

Shrum, c 3 0 0 0 Thompson, cf 4 0 0

Brock, 3b 4 1 1 0

Martinez, ss 4 1 1 0

Totals 32 1 6 1 Totals 32 7 11 7

Berkshire 000 000 001 ? 1

Bangor 301 201 00x ? 7

E? Jones; LOB? Berkshire 9; Bangor 8; 2B? Jones, Tash, LeBron, de la Cruz, Martinez; 3B? Doakes, Hargreaves; DP? Mateo-Burnett-Paciorek (2); SB? Doakes

Berkshire IP H R ER BB SO

Harden (L, 7-4) 3 2/3 8 6 6 3 1

Meyer 1 1/3 0 0 0 2 3

Encarnacion 2 2 1 1 2 3

Henderson 1 1 0 0 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Sparks (W, 4-1) 5 4 0 0 2 8

Kalinowski 3 0 0 0 3 4

Woodards 1 2 1 1 0 2

WP? Encarnacion; BK? Harden; T? 3:04; ATT? 1,994

LUMBERJACKS 4, BLACK BEARS 1

(Sunday Afternoon)

Berkshire (9-17) Bangor (13-14)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Mateo, ss 4 0 1 1 Doakes, 2b 4 1 0

Burnett, 2b 4 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 3 1 0

Hopper, dh 3 0 1 0 Ross, 1b 3 1 1

Crespo, lf 4 0 0 0 LeBron, lf 3 1 0

Jones, 1b 4 0 2 0 Burke, dh 4 0 2

Briones, c 3 0 0 0 de la Cruz, rf 3 0 1

Forbes, rf 3 0 0 0 Thompson, cf 3 0 0

Johnston, cf 3 0 0 0 Brock, 3b 2 0 0

Tash, 3b 3 1 2 0 Martinez, ss 3 0 0

Totals 31 1 6 1 Totals 28 4 8 4

Berkshire 000 000 010 ? 1

Bangor 300 010 00x ? 4

E?Doakes; LOB?Berkshire 4, Bangor 4; 2B?Doakes; 3B?Tash, LeBron; DP?Guttormson-Jones, Mateo-Burnett-Jones; LeBron-Ross, Martinez-Doakes-Ross; SB?Hopper, Hargreaves

Berkshire IP H R ER BB SO

Guttormson (L, 5-8) 7 7 4 3 2 3

Aucoin 1 1 0 0 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long (W, 2-5) 9 6 1 1 1 7

HBP? Brock by Guttormson; PB? Briones; T? 2:04; ATT? 1,033