BANGOR – It wasn’t a triumphant return to Winkin Complex for the Bangor Lumberjacks Thursday night, and after a steady shower soaked the field for the better part of three innings, there was no joy in “Mudville.”

Ben Knapp kept Bangor’s offense in check for seven innings while his North Shore teammates took advantage of four Lumberjacks’ errors en route to a 7-3 victory by the Spirit.

The Northeast League’s North Division leaders are now 29-11 and eight games up on the 21-19 Lumberjacks.

“We just keep combining good pitching with timely hits and doing the little things,” said Spirit manager John Kennedy.

Though hittable (nine hits allowed), Knapp kept Bangor from scoring. The ‘Jacks stranded seven baserunners against him as he struck out six and walked just one batter.

“The strike zone took some getting used to,” said Knapp, who credited control of his fastball for his success. “I worked it in and out pretty well and my slider was huge. I got away with throwing just those pretty much because I didn’t use a lot of changeups.”

Bangor starter and league ERA leader Jerry Long had good command of his curve and struck out 11 batters in seven innings while allowing just six hits and two walks, but defensive lapses cost him.

“When you give someone an extra out and get out of it, like we did in the first, that gets you pumped up, but you can’t keep doing it and we did that tonight,” said Bangor pitching coach Kevin Pincavitch.

Bangor took a 1-0 lead in the first on a Brad Hargreaves’ triple deep to the right field corner and Mark Burke’s two-out double to the right field wall.

North Shore struck back in the third with two outs. After Vic Davila was hit by a pitch, Rob Fischer struck out, only to reach base on a wild pitch. Joe Hastings scored them both with a double to the left-center field wall.

The Spirit added another run in the fourth, again with two outs. Yuri Sanchez reached on a fielder’s choice, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Marcos Agramonte’s single to right-center.

Bangor got the run back in the fourth with singles by Jose Garcia and Paul Powell, but the Spirit gave itself some breathing room in the sixth, courtesy of Vic Davila’s two-run blast to right – with two outs – to make it 5-2.

“Jerry said if there was one mistake he made all night, it was that curveball to Vic,” Pincavitch said.

The Lumberjacks cut into the lead in the seventh with a run on Jake Whitesides’ single and Donnie Ross’ two-out triple off the left field wall, but North Shore broke it open in the eighth with two more, courtesy of four hits, a walk, a balk, and an error.

GAME NOTES – Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp was ejected from his first home game of the season in the bottom of the seventh after arguing with first base umpire Yves Lamontagne. Shin Uchino was called out at first by pitcher Ben Knapp on a short grounder down the third-base line. Pitcher Ben Knapp fielded the ball and Uchino appeared to beat out the throw by a step or two, but was called out on the throw. Beauchamp argued intensely for a couple of minutes and then kicked dirt on first base after his ejection.

SPIRIT 7, LUMBERJACKS 3

North Shore (29-11) Bangor (21-19)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Agramonte, 2b 5 1 2 2 Whitesides, cf 5 0

Teilon, 3b 5 1 1 0 Hargreaves, c 3 2 0

Davila, 1b 4 2 2 3 Ross, 1b 4 0 1

Fischer, cf 4 1 0 0 Burke, dh 4 0 1

Hastings, lf 5 0 1 2 Garcia, rf 4 1 0

Oglesby, dh 4 0 0 0 Bello, 2b 3 0 0

Mercado, c 5 0 2 0 Baywal, lf 4 0 0

Macchi, rf 4 0 1 0 Powell, 3b 4 0 0

Sanchez, ss 4 2 1 0 Uchino, ss 4 0 0

Totals 40 7 10 7 Totals 35 3 9 2

North Shore 002 102 020 ? 7

Bangor 100 100 100 ? 3

E?Bello, Baywal, Powell, Uchino; LOB?North Shore 10; Bangor 8; 2B?Hastings, Mercado; Burke, Baywal, Powell; 3B?Hargreaves, Ross; HR?Davilla (11); DP?Bangor; S?Hargreaves; SB?Hargreaves

North Shore IP H R ER BB SO

Knapp (W, 4-2) 7 9 3 3 1 6

Hart 2 0 0 0 1 2

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long (L, 3-3) 7 6 5 3 2 11

Parker 2 4 2 2 1 2

HBP?Davilla by Long; WP?Long 2; BK?Parker; T?2:55; ATT?878