Hammond gives ‘Jacks win in 9th Bases-loaded single beats Jackals 5-4

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BANGOR – Friday night’s Northeast League game at Winkin Complex held much more drama than Thursday’s home opener for the Bangor Lumberjacks, but the end result was the same.

Bangor left fielder Derry Hammond’s line-drive single to right with one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth brought home the winning run in Bangor’s 5-4 triumph over New Jersey.

“I’m very proud of the way we’ve responded the last two games,” said Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp. “Last year, it seemed like when we got down, we were done.

“We played smart baseball and … even though we walked 11 guys, we got out of there with a win, which shows we minimized our mistakes. We also didn’t lay down, which is good to see.

The Lumberjacks improve to 4-5 while the Jackals are now 3-5.

Bangor took a 4-3 lead into the ninth as reliever John Rohlfing retired the first batter on a flyout, but Craig Conway doubled to the right field wall. Rohlfing then struck out No. 3 hitter and notorious Lumberjacks nemesis Scott Goodman, but then inexplicably lost his control. He walked the next three hitters on 16 pitches to force in the tying run.

“I don’t know,” said Rohlfing while trying to explain his sudden mound turnaround. “The velocity was there … I just couldn’t put it all together.”

As abruptly as Bangor’s righthander lost it, he regained it by striking out Rick Elder on four pitches.

“I try not to get angry at myself. I just tried to stay focused and get after it … because I knew with these guys, we could come back and get the win,” Rohlfing said.

Control problems must have been catching as Jackals reliever Carlos Figueroa walked the first two batters in the ninth. After Donnie Ross bunted Jose Garcia and Jake Whitesides over to third and second, respectively, Mark Burke was intentionally walked to set up a potential inning-ending double play.Figueroa gave way to Mike Perkins on the mound. Up came Hammond, who was 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt. Hammond worked the count to 3-0 and got the green light to hit away from Beauchamp. The decision didn’t surprise Hammond.

“No, not at all. To get ahead in the count was my main objective and then look for one pitch to hit,” Hammond said. “I knew I’d get a good one in that situation and it was just a straight, four-seamer.”

The Jackals cracked the scoreboard first with two in the first courtesy of two hits and four walks. They made it 3-0 in the third on Wady Almonte’s solo shot over the left-field fence.

Bangor finally plated some runs in the bottom of the fifth after Brad Hargreaves hit a one-out single to center and Shin Uchino drew a two-out walk. Starter Brad Whitworth worked the count to 2-2 on Garcia and Garcia stayed alive by fouling off three straight pitches before belting the next offering to the wall in left center for a two-run double.

Bangor tied it up in the sixth. Donnie Ross’ leadoff single sent Whitworth to the dugout and pinch-hitter Burke greeted reliever Ben Grezlovski with a single to shallow left. After a Hammond bunt, Whitworth walked pinch-hitter Willie King intentionally. A strikeout later, Mike Grasso hit a sharp infield grounder that was almost snared by Elder on the right side, but the ball ricocheted off his outstretched glove and Grasso had an infield RBI single.

Bangor took its first lead of the game in the eighth, courtesy of a leadoff homer to right center by Burke.

‘Jacks cut two pitchers, add two

The Bangor Lumberjacks have retooled their pitching staff with the release of two players and the signing of two others. Righty Brandon Bowe, one of six players back from last season, and lefty John Duffy were both released Friday and replaced by free agents Yunior Cabrera, a lefthander, and righty John Parker.

The 24-year-old Cabrera comes to Bangor after seven years in the New York Mets minor league organization with a career record of 23-18 and ERA of 3.29 in 363 1/3 innings. Parker is a rookie from Oklahoma who went 1-1 with a 5.79 ERA with Shreveport (La.) in the Central League last year.

LUMBERJACKS 5, JACKALS 4

New Jersey (3-5) Bangor (4-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Anderson, lf 4 1 0 0 Uchino, ss 4 1 0

Conway, 2b 3 1 1 0 Garcia, rf 4 1 2

Goodman, dh 5 1 1 1 Whitesides, cf 3 0 0

Grijak, rf 3 0 1 0 Ross, 1b 4 1 0

Myers, cf 0 0 0 0 Sienko, dh 2 0 0

Almonte, cf-rf 2 1 1 1 Burke, dh 2 1

Veras, 3b 4 0 1 2 Hammond, lf 4 0 1

Elder, 1b 3 0 1 0 Powell, 3b 2 0 0

Vasquez, c 4 0 0 0 King, 3b 1 0 0

Infante, ss 4 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 2 1 0

Grasso, 2b 3 0 2 1

Totals 32 4 6 4 Totals 31 5 10 5

New Jersey 201 000 101 ? 4

Bangor 000 021 011 ? 5

E?none; LOB?NJ 12, Bangor 12; 2B?Conway, Veras, Elder; Uchino; HR?Almonte (2); Burke (3); DP?NJ 1; S?Ross, Grasso, Hammond; SB?none

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Whitworth 5 5 3 3 3 6

Grezlovski 2 2 0 0 1 4

Figueroa (L,1-1) 1 1/3 2 2 2 4 2

Perkins* 0 1 0 0 0 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Miller 5 4 3 3 7 2

Parker 3 1 0 0 1 4

Rohlfing (W,1-0) 1 1 1 1 3 2

*faced one batter in 9th

T?3:22; ATT?1,286