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Yakima nips T'jacks, 10-8 The Southern Oregon Timberjacks kept things interesting as usual Saturday. This time, however, they couldn't come up with another miracle finish, losing to the Yakima Bears, 10-8, at Miles Field. Things started off rather tame for both sides with Southern Oregon holding a 2-1 lead into the sixth. That's when the Bears brought the game back to a more familiar topsy-turvy pace both teams and a crowd of 1,800 was more accustomed to seeing as the teams have split their first four games. Yakima bunched together seven hits to tack on six runs highlighted by Joe Thurston's two-run double and augmented by two Timberjack errors. Southern Oregon fought back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs. Jorge Soto walked to start off the inning when Kirk Asche smacked what would have been a two-run home run. Asche inadvertently passed Soto on the base-path resulting in an out and giving the Timberjacks one run instead of two. Matt Howe capped off the scoring with an RBI ground-out. Southern Oregon then followed up two more Yakima runs with four of their own in the seventh inning. Asche provided the big blow in the inning with a three-run shot, his second of the game, trimming the lead to 9-8. The Bears added an insurance run in the ninth. Southern Oregon remains 2 games ahead of Portland in the Southern division of the Northwest League standings. Timberjacks' catcher Aaron Nieckula was promoted Friday night to Visalia of the California League. Nieckula had thrown out 14-of-24 (58 percent) would-be base stealers. Offensively, Nieckula hit .260 with one home run and nine RBIs. The two teams square off one more time in the rubber game of the five-game series at 6:05 p.m. today. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.