Lumberjacks extend winning skein to four Bangor rallies to nip New Jersey Jackals 3-2

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BANGOR – For the better part of the last two seasons, Bangor Lumberjacks manager Kash Beauchamp has been preaching fundamentals to anyone who will listen in and out of the locker room.

His point? It’s usually the little things that make the difference. The little things kept Bangor from generating any lasting momentum and contending for last year’s playoffs.

After Sunday afternoon’s come-from-behind 3-2 victory over New Jersey, Beauchamp was all smiles.

“We played very good baseball. I couldn’t be prouder,” he said. “This is probably the best four-game series one of my teams has played since I’ve been a manager.”

Combined with Saturday night’s 8-3 win, the ‘Jacks are riding a four-game win streak and above .500 (6-5) for the first time this season, but they’re still fourth in the Northeast League’s North Division as the three teams in front are a combined 23-8. New Jersey falls to 3-7 with a sixth straight loss, but is second behind 7-4 New Haven County in the South Division.

Sunday’s deciding run came via a bizarre play in the seventh.

Jose Garcia drew a leadoff walk and moved to third on Jake Whitesides’ single to center, but Whitesides tried to advance to second and was cut down 8-6-3. As he was being thrown out, Garcia wheeled home and the throw to the plate from first baseman Kevin Grijak was high and wide right.

“We did the little things you have to do to win,” Beauchamp said. “Walks are like base hits for us most of the time.”

Newly-dubbed closer John Rohlfing followed up a tough Friday outing in which he blew a save and notched a win with a dominating effort Sunday.

The ‘Jacks’ righthander struck out the side in the ninth on 14 pitches to preserve the win for Adam Thomas.

“My outing before this wasn’t that great, but this one, I felt great and I didn’t even have to think at all,” he said. “I could just get out there and throw it.”

Thomas (2-1) allowed four hits and two walks in 7 2/3 innings to give Bangor its second straight quality start (six innings or more with three earned runs or less).

The Jackals went up 2-0 in the first inning on back-to-back singles by John Anderson and Zach Smithlin, a walk to load the bases, a fielder’s choice RBI, and an RBI groundout.

Jackals starter Josh Miller kept the Bangor bats in check for much of his five innings, but Bangor finally cracked the scoreboard in the fourth.

Derry Hammond led off with a single, Donnie Ross singled him to second, and both moved up on Paul Powell bunt. Hammond scored on a groundout. Bangor tied it in the sixth with a two-out walk by Brad Hargreaves and a Mike Grasso triple to the right field corner.

On Saturday night, Whitesides came a single away from hitting for the cycle after hitting a two-run home run to right in the third, a two-run triple to center in the fourth, and a double to right in the sixth. He grounded into a double play in the his final at-bat.

“He is just locked in right now. I mean, he’s in a whole different league right now,” said catcher Brad Hargreaves.

Starting pitcher Jerry Long improved to 2-1 after allowing six hits in eight innings of work. The righthander struck out seven and walked just one.

“We talked and it was basically just me stressing him staying ahead in the count and throwing strikes,” said pitching coach Kevin Pincavitch. “It really is just that simple and Jerry did a great job.”

The Lumberjacks scored three runs in the fourth on Whitesides’ triple and a Mark Burke RBI groundout. The Jackals put up one run in the fourth on two singles and a wild pitch, and then added two more in the fifth on three hits and two Lumberjack errors, but that would be it for the Jackals.

Hammond doubled in the fifth, and came all the way around on a hit batter, walk, and balk. Bangor’s last run came in the sixth on Whitesides’ double and a Burke single to right center.

LUMBERJACKS 3, JACKALS 2

(Sunday Afternoon)

New Jersey (3-7) Bangor (6-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Anderson, dh 4 1 1 0 Uchino, ss 5 0 0

Smithlin, cf 4 1 2 0 Garcia, rf 4 1 0

Goodman, lf 3 0 0 0 Whitesides, cf 3 0 0

Grijak, 1b 3 0 0 1 Burke, 1b 4 0 0

Almonte, rf 3 0 1 0 Hammond, lf 4 1 0

Veras, 3b 4 0 0 1 Ross, dh 4 0 0

Pagan, c 3 0 0 0 Powell, 3b 3 0 0

Elder, ph 1 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 2 1 1

Rowan, ss 4 0 0 0 Grasso, 2b 3 0 1

Conway, 2b 4 0 1 0

Totals 33 2 5 2 Totals 32 3 10 2

New Jersey 200 000 000 ? 2

Bangor 000 101 10x ? 3

E?Miller; Grasso; LOB?NJ 7; Bangor 11; 2B?Whitesides; 3B?Grasso; S?Powell; SB?Smithlin; Garcia

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Miller 5 5 1 1 2 5

Perkins (L,0-1) 3 5 2 2 2 2

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Thomas (W,2-1) 7 2/3 4 2 2 2 5

Huguet 1/3 1 0 0 0 0

Rohlfing (S,2) 1 0 0 0 0 3

HBP?Almonte by Thomas; Hargreaves by Miller; T?2:53; ATT?1,133

LUMBERJACKS 8, JACKALS 3

(Saturday Night)

New Jersey (3-6) Bangor (5-5)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Anderson, dh 4 1 1 1 Uchino, ss 5 1 0

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

Goodman, lf 4 0 0 0 King, rf 1 0 1

Grijak, rf 3 1 1 0 Whitesides, cf 5 3 4

Almonte, cf 4 0 1 1 Burke, 1b 2 0 2

Veras, 3b 4 0 1 0 Sienko, c 4 0 0

Elder, 1b 4 0 0 0 Ross, dh 4 0 0

Pagan, c 4 1 0 0 Hammond, lf 3 1 0

Rowan, ss 3 0 1 0 Powell, 3b 2 1 0

Hargreaves, 2b 2 1 1 0

Grasso, 2b 0 1 0 0

Totals 34 3 6 3 Totals 31 8 12 7

New Jersey 000 120 000 ? 3

Bangor 002 311 01x ? 8

E?Sienko, Powell 2, Hargreaves; LOB?NJ 5; Bangor 7; 2B?Garcia, Whitesides, Ross, Hammond; 3B?Whitesides; HR?Whitesides (1); DP?NJ 2; S?Garcia; SB?Conway

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Marcotte (L, 0-1) 4 8 5 5 3 4

Gomez 1 1/3 2 2 2 1 1

Neiser 1 2/3 1 0 0 0 2

Darcy 1 1 1 1 1 0

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long (W, 1-1) 8 6 3 1 1 7

Parker 1 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Hammond by Marcotte), Powell by Gomez; WP?Long; BK?Gomez; T?2:45; ATT?1,619