Lumberjacks cruise past Brockton

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BANGOR – For the second game in a row the Bangor Lumberjacks used a big early inning to pile on runs and earn a win. This time the bullpen held up, too, despite a rainy, raw Wednesday night at Husson College’s Winkin Complex.

The Lumberjacks scored five runs on five hits in the third inning and continued to pile on more offense from there, rolling to a 14-5 victory over the Brockton Rox in the final game of the first half of the season.

Bangor pounded out 19 hits, including four doubles and a Derry Hammond home run in the seventh. Hammond went 4-for-4 with five RBIs and now leads the Northeast League in RBIs. His effort was followed up by Brad Hargreaves, who was 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.

Leadoff batter Jose Garcia doubled twice and drove in two runs, while Kaz Kohno hit three singles. The Lumberjacks scored in every inning except in the bottom of the eighth, and six Bangor batters had multi-hit games.

“We did a great job of scoring when they scored,” Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp said. “We answered every threat they had and didn’t let them get any momentum. We swung the bats really well tonight.”

The ‘Jacks and the Rox battled back and forth early in the mist and fog. Brockton struck first with a run in the top of the first inning; the Lumberjacks responded with a run in the bottom of the inning. The Rox took a 2-1 lead in the second; Bangor tied it again in the bottom of the inning. A Donnie Ross leadoff double sparked the Lumberjacks past the Rox for good.

Hammond followed up Ross’ double with one of his own, allowing Ross to score. After Mark Burke drew a walk, Kohno singled to drive in Hammond, who ran through a stop sign at third to make it 4-2.

Hammond is battling a leg injury, so the coaching staff has been cautious with him when he’s on the bases, Beauchamp said.

“I told him, ‘You know what you can do. If you can score do it.’ He was kind of his own base coach tonight,” Beauchamp said.

Rolando Bello continued the inning with a sacrifice bunt to move the runners and after a Paul Powell strikeout, Shin Uchino singled to plate Burke and Uchino scored on Garcia’s first double of the game. That made it 7-2 and put the game out of reach.

Hammond and Bello each added RBIs on sacrifice flies. The Lumberjacks used those two sacrifices, plus two sacrifice bunts, to move runners. Bangor left seven runners on base.

‘Jacks starter Clayton Andrews (3-2) earned the win despite giving up 10 hits in five innings of work. J.C. Huguet combined with fellow reliever John Parker to shut down the Rox from there.

Beauchamp said it was good to see that kind of effort after the bullpen gave up three runs in the eighth in Tuesday’s 5-4 win.

“Huguet came in and did a good job,” Beauchamp said. “He’s coming off some rough outings where he’s walked some people and we had a talk before the game, got him to settle down and that’s what he did.”

The Rox, who entered the game with a league-high .298 team batting average, finished with 11 hits and swatted leadoff home runs in the fifth and sixth. Saul Bustos was 3-for-5 with a triple and Abner Arroyo singled and homered for two RBIs.

Wednesday’s start was delayed to until about 6:45 p.m. because of the rain.

“It’s a pretty impressive performance on such an awful night to play,” Beauchamp said. “I was pleased to see the effort with the conditions as bad as they were.”

LUMBERJACKS 14, ROX 5

Brockton (27-19) Bangor (25-21)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smith, cf 5 1 1 1 Garcia, cf 5 1 2

Bustos, ss 5 2 3 0 Hargreaves, c 5 2 1

Torres, 2b 5 0 1 1 Ross, 1b 5 2 1

Jones, c 5 0 2 1 Hammond, lf 4 3 5

Daubert, 3b 4 0 0 0 Burke, dh 3 2 0

Matos, dh 2 1 1 0 Kohno, rf 5 1 2

Beck, ph-dh 2 0 0 0 Bello, 2b 2 0 1

Zacuto, 1b 4 0 1 0 Dominguez, 2b-ph 1 0

Arroyo, lf 3 1 2 2 Powell, 3b 4 1 0

Sandoval, rf 3 0 0 0 Uchino, ss 4 2 2

Totals 38 5 11 5 Totals 38 14 19 14

Brockton 110 021 000 ? 5

Bangor 115 112 30x ? 14

LOB?Brockton 10, Bangor 7; 2B?Bustos, Jones, Matos; Garcia 2, Hargreaves 2, Ross, Hammond; 3B?Bustos, Torres; HR?Smith, Arroyo, Hammond; S?Bello, Uchino; SF?Hammond, Bello; SB?Uchino

Brockton IP H R ER BB SO

Mendoza (L, 0-2) 2 2/3 9 7 7 1 5

Lynn 3 1/3 7 4 4 1 0

Bennett 2 3 3 3 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Andrews (W, 3-2) 5 10 5 5 1 5

Huguet 3 0 0 0 2 3

Parker 1 1 0 0 1 1

HBP?Powell by Lynn; WP?Mendoza, Lynn; T?3:02; ATT?787