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Lincoln's three-run blast buries T'jacks, 5-2 Portland takes 2 of 3 at Miles By DAVE DAUGHERTY For seven innings Saturday night, Portland shortstop Justin Lincoln just couldn't get into a groove at the plate in his team's Northwest League contest with the Southern Oregon Timberjacks. But with one swing of the bat in the eighth, all was forgotten as Lincoln connected for a game-winning three-run home run in the Rockies' 5-2 victory at Miles Field. The victory moves Portland (16-18) within 3 games of Southern Division leading Southern Oregon (20-15). The win also earned the Rockies a series split with the T'jacks after taking two of three in Medford. "The whole night I wasn't patient," said Lincoln, who had struck out his in his two previous at bats. "I was just telling myself to see the ball and hit it." Lincoln's big blow came at the expense of Southern Oregon reliever Justin Lehr (1-3), who ran into eighth-inning trouble after bailing his team out of a seventh inning jam and hold onto a 2-1 lead. Lehr started the eighth by issuing a walk to third baseman Ricardo Mahoney. Left fielder Greg Catalanotte followed with a single, which was promptly followed by an RBI single off the bat of first baseman Justin Hemme. That brought Lincoln to the plate and the rest was history. "(Hitting instructor) Stu Cole told me to be patient," said Lincoln, who tallied his sixth homer of the season. "He (Lehr) came right at me with fastballs. I didn't know it was out of the park until the umpire told me at second base." "We seem to score runs in bunches," said Portland manager Alan Cockrell. "It's been a part of our track record to this point in the season." Until the eighth, the Miles Field crowd of 1,971 was treated to a pitching duel between Southern Oregon's Scott Chiasson and Portland's Julio de Paula. De Paula (3-2) yielded a run in the second when T'jack's designated hitter Brad Henderson plated Matt Howe with an RBI single. Howe led off the inning with a triple. After the lone run, de Paula was nearly flawless in his seven innings of work. "We were pretty pleased with as deep as he (de Paula) got us," said Cockrell. "He was able to make the pitches when he had to." Chiasson was just as sharp, going 6 innings with six strikeouts. His lone blemish was a run in the fifth when he uncorked a wild pitch. Chiasson started to tire in the seventh, hitting Portland's Jorge Sosa and walking catcher Eric McQueen after retiring the first two hitters in the inning. Lehr (1-3) was called in from the bullpen by Southern Oregon manager Greg Sparks and promptly got Portland second baseman Billy Gasparino to fly out weakly to right fielder Mike Lockwood to end the inning. The Timberjacks responded in the bottom of the seventh with Jason Clements' sacrifice fly to make it 2-1. After Lincoln's blow in the seventh, the outcome of the contest was placed in the hands of the Portland bullpen, which was up to the task. "The pitchers did a great job of keeping us close," said Cockrell, a former All-American quarterback at Tennessee. "It was just a huge hit from Lincoln." Jason Labitzke tossed a scoreless eighth inning before giving way to closer Diogenes Gomez in the ninth. Gomez started the inning by issuing back-to-back singles to Southern Oregon first baseman Jeremy Schied and Henderson. Catcher Jose De La Cruz followed the two singles by slapping what appeared to be a sure-fire single up the middle, but the Rockies' Gasparino made a great diving stop and threw out De La Cruz at first. The shaky start by Gomez prompted Cockrell to go to the bullpen one more time, bringing in Craig House, who wasn't expected to make an appearance on Saturday. "The coaches told me I was going to pitch tomorrow," said House, who picked up his first save. "I was just down in the bullpen trying to stay loose just in case." It was a good thing, as House got pinch-hitter Jorge Soto to fly out and second baseman Carlos Rosario to ground out and end the game. "I just wanted to throw good quality pitches," said House. "I fell behind Soto and threw a good pitch. I was fortunate to get out of it." "I mentioned to our pitching coach (Tom Edens) we should get House going," said Cockrell. "We just thought our chances were better with him at that point." Southern Oregon hits the road for a series in Yakima that starts tonight at 6 p.m. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.