Dunn, Quebec avoid sweep with Sunday win over ‘Jacks

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BANGOR – Winning two of three in a series and nine of your last 11 is something to take note of, but in the Northeast League’s Northern Division, it still means you’re in fourth place.

Quebec ace Keith Dunn prevented the Bangor Lumberjacks from sweeping his team as he hurled six quality innings of six-hit, two-run ball and led the Capitales to a 5-3 victory on a sunny and sultry Sunday at Winkin Complex.

Dunn also had four walks and five strikeouts while upping his record to 5-0.

“A sweep is awful tough to do with Dunn out there,” said Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp. “We played a good ballgame and battled back, but two outfield errors killed us. You can’t give teams extra outs and extra bases and that’s what we did today.”

Bangor, which had gone two games without an error, committed three Sunday including the two outfield miscues. One allowed a hitter to reach base safely and the other enabled two runners to move up an extra base.

Bangor is now 19-17 while Quebec moves back ahead of the Lumberjacks with a 20-16 record. Bangor’s 8-0 victory Saturday night moved Bangor temporarily into a tie for third place in the division.

“Getting this last one today is big for us,” said Quebec manager Darren Bush. “The last two days we haven’t swung the bat and they have great pitching, and we only had really two innings we swung the bats well today.”

Sunday afternoon, Quebec broke out of a mini-slump with four runs on five hits in the third. The Capitales made it 5-0 in the fourth on a leadoff double by Andrew Mercier, a Jake Whitesides fielding error, and Olivier Lepine’s RBI single to shallow right.

Bangor chipped away at the deficit in the seventh as Jose Garcia drew a leadoff walk, Rolando Bello scored him with a double deep to center, and Brad Hargreaves’ two-out flare single to right scored Bello. Bangor added a run in the eighth on three straight singles by Mark Burke, Garcia, and Bello.

“We just have to keep winning series and hoping for sweeps,” Garcia said. “We can still win this. We just have to not get too far ahead [of ourselves].”

Saturday night, league earned-run average eader and NEL all-star selection Jerry Long lowered it even more (1.49) with a seven shutout innings in which he allowed four hits and four walks. He also notched nine strikeouts.

Bangor scored first via Donnie Ross’ 350-foot solo shot off the scoreboard in right-center – his 11th of the season and enough to give him a share of the Northeast League home run lead with teammate Derry Hammond – with two outs in the first inning. A second run came in the third via back-to-back doubles by Whitesides and Hargreaves.

Bangor’s third run came in the fourth, again on a homer. This one came off the bat of Mark Burke, who had managed only five hits in his previous 24 at-bats, and sailed 370 feet to right-center.

The Lumberjacks broke it open in the sixth with three runs on back-to-back doubles by Hammond and Burke, a Garcia walk, a Bello single, and Paul Powell’s RBI fielder’s choice.

CAPITALES 5, LUMBERJACKS 3

(Sunday Afternoon)

Quebec (20-16) Bangor (19-17)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Emond, rf 5 1 1 0 Whitesides, cf 4 0 0

Delfino, ss 4 1 2 1 Hargreaves, c 5 0 1

McNabb, lf 4 1 2 0 Ross, 1b 4 0 0

Hopper, cf 4 0 1 2 Hammond, lf 4 0 0

Lantigua, 3b 3 0 0 1 Burke, dh 3 1 0

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

Mercier, 1b 3 1 1 0 Bello, 2b 4 1 2

Quigg, dh 4 0 0 0 Powell, 3b 4 0 0

Lepine, c 4 1 2 1 Uchino, ss 4 0 0

Totals 35 5 9 5 Totals 35 3 10 3

Quebec 004 100 000 ? 5

Bangor 000 000 210 ? 3

E?Emond; Whitesides 2, Garcia; LOB?Quebec 5; Bangor 9; 2B?Mercier, Lepine; Bello, Powell; DP?Quebec 2; Bangor 1; SF?Lantigua

Quebec IP H R ER BB SO

Dunn (W, 5-0) 7 6 2 2 4 5

Grezlovski 1 3 1 1 0 0

Santos (S, 5) 1 1 0 0 0 3

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Andrews (L, 1-2) 6 8 5 5 0 5

Huguet 2 2/3 1 0 0 0 2

Pavlik 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Mercier by Huguet; PB?Lepine; T?2:41; ATT?1,003

LUMBERJACKS 8, CAPITALES 0

(Saturday Night)

Quebec (19-16) Bangor (19-16)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Emond, rf 2 0 1 0 Whitesides, cf 4 1 0

Delfino, ss 4 0 1 0 Hargreaves, c 4 1 1

McNabb, lf 3 0 0 0 Ross, dh 3 1 1

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

Lantigua, 3b 3 0 0 0 Burke, 1b 4 2 2

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

Wendt, dh 3 0 0 0 Bello, 2b 2 0 1

Quigg, cf 3 0 0 0 Powell, 3b 4 0 1

Mercier, ph 1 0 0 0 Uchino, ss 4 0 0

Lepine, c 4 0 1 0

Totals 30 0 4 0 Totals 32 8 9 8

Quebec 000 000 000 ? 0

Bangor 101 103 20x ? 8

LOB?Quebec 9; Bangor 4; 2B?Whitesides, Hargreaves 2, Hammond, Burke; HR?Hammond (12), Ross (11), Burke (7); DP?Quebec 1; Bangor 1; SB?Bozanich; Ross

Quebec IP H R ER BB SO

Prata (L, 3-2) 5 1/3 7 6 6 3 3

Hoyt 1 2/3 2 2 2 0 1

Grezlovski 1 0 0 0 1 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long (W, 3-2) 7 4 0 0 4 9

Pavlik 1 0 0 0 1 2

Miller 1/3 0 0 0 0 1

McKeller 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

HBP?Wendt by Miller; PB?Lepine; T?2:39; ATT?1,571