Long, Burke lead ‘Jacks to victory

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BANGOR – One down … Two more to go.

The Bangor Lumberjacks accomplished phase one of their three-part plan Tuesday night by defeating the front-running Quebec Capitales 5-1 behind strong starting and relief pitching and a big offensive effort from the lower half of the lineup.

Led by starting pitcher Jerry Long and first baseman Mark Burke, the 23-11 Lumberjacks moved within two games of North Division leader Quebec (25-9) on a crisp, clear evening at Winkin Complex.

“Of course these games are big, but we can’t get all crazy and hyped up. We’ve just got to do our same routine every day,” said Burke, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. “This is a team of guys who know what we need to do and we’ve got guys producing up and down the lineup and on the mound.”

Eight of Bangor’s nine hits came from the Nos. 5 through 9 spots in the batting order with Jose Garcia and Paul Powell getting two hits and an RBI apiece.

Long allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings of work while striking out six batters and walking three. He threw 63 of 104 pitches for strikes.

“The big thing was pitch selection. Brad [Hargreaves] does an awesome job behind the dish, going in and out and calling the right pitches back there,” said Long, who improved to 6-4. “All my pitches – fastball, changeup and curve – were working real well tonight.”

The only run Long gave up was unearned. In the top of the fourth, Eddie Lantigua singled to lead off, reached second on a passed ball, went to third on a botched force play, and then raced home while players were arguing the call. Long had the ball, but no one was covering home plate as Lantigua alertly scampered home.

“The biggest thing was Jerry keeping his composure, when they stole home and nobody was there,” said Bangor pitching coach Kevin Pincavitch. “He could have easily folded like a cheap suit, but he didn’t.”

Starter-reliever Isaac Pavlik pitched 1 1/3 innings of no-hit ball and notched four strikeouts to bridge the gap to the ninth and closer Lance Calmus, who notched his 10th save of the season.

The first run of the game came off the bat of Burke, who roped a 2-0 changeup from Lance Franks over the right field fence in the second inning.

“He likes to use his fastball late in the count, not early, so I wasn’t surprised by the changeup,” Burke explained.

Bangor made it 2-0 in the third as Northeast League player of the week Paul Powell led off with a single, went to second on Mike Davis’ single, and moved to third on a bunt, and scored on Brad Hargreaves’ sacrifice fly to right field.

The Lumberjacks made it 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth after Burke and Jose Garcia hit back-to-back, one-out singles to put runners at the corners. Josh Tranum scored Burke with a groundout to first.

Bangor made it 4-1 in the seventh, thanks to a Tranum double and a Powell RBI single to left. The final run came in the eighth, when Bangor scored via a Kazuhiro Kohno leadoff single, Burke’s one-out single to right, and Garcia’s RBI groundout to first.

With two games separating the Lumberjacks and Capitales and 12 left in the regular season, Bangor is poised for a strong finish, but players weren’t overly celebratory following the win.

“We definitely celebrated the win, but we’re not at the point where we’ve established a spot in the playoffs,” said Bangor outfielder Derry Hammond. “We don’t want to go in just as a wild card. We want to win the second half.”

LUMBERJACKS 5, CAPITALES 1

Quebec (25-9) Bangor (23-11)

Player AB R H BI Player AB R H BI

Emond, rf 5 0 2 0 Bello, 2b 3 0 0

Tomlinson, cf 3 0 0 0 Hargreaves, c 3 1

Hopper, 3b 4 0 1 0 Kohno, cf 4 1 0

Lantigua, 1b 3 1 1 0 Hammond, lf 4 0 0

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

McNabb, lf 3 0 0 0 Garcia, rf 4 0 1

Morton, dh 3 0 1 0 Tranum, dh 3 0 1

Delfino, ss 3 0 0 0 Baker, dh 1 1 0

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

Davis, 3b 3 0 1 0

Totals 32 1 5 0 Totals 31 5 10 5

Quebec 000 100 000 ? 1

Bangor 011 100 11x ? 5

E?Powell; LOB?Capitales 9; Lumberjacks 5; 2B?Emond; Tranum; HR?Burke (14); DP?Capitales 1; Lumberjacks 1; S?Bello; SF?Hargreaves; SB?Powell

Quebec IP H R ER BB SO

Franks (L,1-6) 6 1/3 8 4 4 1 4

Johnson 1 2/3 2 1 1 0 3

Bangor IP H R ER BB SO

Long (W,6-4) 6 2/3 4 1 0 3 6

Pavlik 1 1/3 0 0 0 1 4

Calmus (S,10) 1 1 0 0 0 1

HBP?McNabb by Long; BK?Long; PB?Lepine 2; Hargreaves; T?2:49; ATT?1,376