BANGOR – A return home after a disappointing 2-4 road trip wasn’t quite enough of a remedy for the Bangor Lumberjacks as they were tagged for their third loss in the last four games.

Jackson Crowther pitched seven good innings for New Jersey, Chris Rowan belted a three-run homer and the Jackals took advantage of two Bangor errors en route to a 6-3 victory – their eighth straight -over the Lumberjacks at Winkin Complex Monday night.

“It was a very lackluster performance,” Bangor manager Kash Beauchamp. “You’d have thought we’d been on a bus all day.”

Bangor is now 13-8 in the Northeast League’s North Division while first-half South winner and current leader New Jersey is 13-7.

“I think it’s the fact there’s no pressure on us anymore. That’s what helps us play better ball,” said Rowan, whose fourth-inning homer gave the Jackals the lead for good. “We’re just having fun with the game.”

Bangor took a 2-0 lead in the second via a one-out walk drawn by Ryan Kane, an RBI triple to the right center gap by Rolando Bello, and a sacrifice fly by Paul Powell.

The Jackals cut Bangor’s lead in half with a run in the third. Juan Infante drew a two-out walk, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored on Zack Smithlin’s single to right center. Smithlin was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double.

New Jersey took the lead with their three runs in the fourth, all scoring with two outs. Wilton Veras started things with a single to right that Jose Garcia misplayed and allowed Veras to move on to second. Wady Almonte’s single put runners at the corners for Rowan, who smacked a 2-2 fastball to right center for his 18th homer.

“I just went along with it instead of trying to pull it and went with it opposite field,” said Rowan, who is having difficulty pulling the ball due to a still-tender elbow after being hit by a pitch last week.

The Lumberjacks cut the deficit to 4-3 in the fifth on Garcia’s 375-foot solo homer to left center with two outs.

The Jackals tacked on two more runs – again with two outs – on an Infante double, a Smithlin walk, and a two-base fielding error by center fielder Kazuhiro Kohno, who failed to call off left fielder Derry Hammond. A fly ball to left center glanced off Kohno’s glove as it fell between the two hesitant fielders.

“That miscommunication changed the whole way I managed the game because … when we get the leadoff man on the next inning, I can hit-and-run and put pressure on the defense. But being three runs down, we had to sit and wait for hits that never came,” Beauchamp said.

Starter Isaac Pavlik was tagged for his second straight loss after allowing seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.

GAME NOTES – Veteran slugger Donnie Ross, who was plunked on the hand two weeks ago and hasn’t seen any game action since, was placed on the disabled list Monday and will have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan Wednesday to determine if he needs surgery.

“I think there might be some kind of cartilage in there that may be torn or sprained,” said Ross, who is second on the team with 14 homers. “I originally thought it was a bone bruise, but I tried to play the other day and couldn’t swing the bat.”

JACKALS 6, LUMBERJACKS 3

(Monday Night)

New Jersey (13-7) Bangor (13-8)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Smithlin, cf 3 1 1 1 Garcia, rf 5 1 1

Conway, dh 5 0 2 0 Hargreaves, c 2 0 0

Grijak, 1b 5 0 0 0 Kohno, cf 4 0 0

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

Almonte, rf 3 1 2 0 Burke, 1b 4 0 0

Rowan, ss 4 1 1 3 Kane, 3b 3 1 0

Goodman, lf 2 0 0 0 Bello, 2b 4 1 1

LaFlair, c 4 0 0 0 Powell, ss 3 0 1

Infante, 2b 3 2 1 0 Uchino, dh 4 0 0

Totals 33 6 9 4 Totals 33 3 7 3

New Jersey Jackals 001 300 200 ? 6

Bangor Lumberjacks 020 010 000 ? 2

E? Garcia, Kohno; LOB? Jackals 6, Lumberjacks 7; 2B? Almonte, Infante; 3B? Bello; HR? Rowan (18), Garcia (2); DP? Lumberjacks 2; S? Goodman; SF? Powell; SB? Hargreaves, Powell

New Jersey IP H R ER BB SO

Crowther (W, 6-7) 7 5 3 3 2 7

Breslow 1 0 0 0 1 2

Benitez (S,11) 1 2 0 0 0 1

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Pavlik (L, 1-2) 6 2/3 7 6 4 3 6

Fox 1/3 1 0 0 1 0

Boker 1 0 0 0 1 0

Calmus 1 1 0 0 0 0

HBP? Goodman by Pavlik; WP? Pavlik; PB? Hargreaves; T? 2:57; ATT? 1,222