Burke, Vigue lead ‘Jacks by Berkshire

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – A Mark Burke grand slam and a solid starting effort from John Vigue averted a sweep at the hands of Berkshire as the Bangor Lumberjacks notched an 8-2 victory Saturday night.

Schuyler Doakes led Bangor’s 11-hit attack, going 3-for-5 with two doubles, a stolen base, and two runs. Burke also doubled and Donnie Ross had a double, a single, and two RBIs.

Burke hit his grand slam in the ninth off reliever Orlando Encarnacion. Juan Lebron’s two-out single scored two runs in the seventh. Donnie Ross followed with a shot to center and was thrown out at third trying to stretch the hit into a triple, but not before he drove in LeBron to make it 4-1 Bangor.

Vigue improved his record to 5-6 after allowing five hits in eight innings. He struck out four hitters and walked none.

Heading into a crucial, three-game home series against north division leader Quebec, the Lumberjacks are four games behind the Capitales with 13 games left in the regular season. Berkshire is 12-20 and five games behind south leader New Jersey.

Rock Cats sweep Sea Dogs

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Pat Neshek, Beau Kemp and Brian Wolfe combined for a three-hitter to lead the New Britain Rock Cats to a 2-1 win and doubleheader sweep of the Portland Sea Dogs on Sunday in the Eastern League.

New Britain won the first game 3-1 as J.D. Durbin scattered six hits in his second complete game since coming to Double-A.

The Rock Cats (64-64) are tied with the Trenton Thunder for third place in the Northern Division, two games behind the second-place Sea Dogs (66-62).

In the nightcap, the Rock Cats scored two in the first inning off starter Eric Glaser (3-3). Josh Renick hit a one-out single and scored on a double by Joe Mauer, who took third on the throw home. Mauer scored on Jeff Deardorff’s sacrifice fly.

Neshek, making the first start in his two-year pro career, allowed just a double by Carlos Leon in the third inning.

Kemp (5-6) came on in the fourth and tossed three hitless frames. Wolfe (3 saves) was touched for a run in the seventh on a double by Sean McGowan and single by Brian Loyd.

Mauer and Terry Tiffee had two hits each for New Britain.

In the first game, Durbin struck out eight and walked three.

Tiffee delivered a two-run double in the first inning off Portland starter Ryan Cameron (2-2). Kevin West capped the inning with an RBI single that gave New Britain the early 3-0 lead.

Raul Nieves had three hits and drove in the lone Sea Dogs run.

Cameron also went the distance, yielding one walk, seven hits and fanning five.