By MICHAEL RADANO
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Lincoln Mikkelson has pitched as well as anyone in the Atlantic League the past month.

Despite not being as sharp Tuesday night, he continued to do one thing right: Mikkelson gave the Camden Riversharks an opportunity to win, and the much-maligned team took advantage.

Mikkelson worked 8˜ innings in the Riversharks' 4-1 win over Lehigh Valley, in front of 2,782 fans at Campbell's Field.

The win clinched the series and set up a showdown for second place in the South Division with Atlantic City, which will be in town for a three game set starting at 6:35 p.m. today.

Mikkelson wasn't perfect, but when he needed help from his defense, he got it.

With Camden holding a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning, Lehigh Valley's Victor Gutierrez tripled with one out. With the infield up, Mikkelson got Joel Fuentes to hit a ball to first baseman Dan Held. Held came home and catcher Guillermo Garcia, who would hit his 15th home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning, easily had Gutierrez at the plate for the second out.

"I was sharp in spots but not like I have been through several innings," said Mikkelson, who improved to 3-4 on the year and 3-0 at home. "Fortunately, we had some timely hitting, and the team picked me up in a couple of spots.

"I would like to have finished, but I understand why they brought in (closer Jimmy Williams). He's up there in saves, and he got one for me. He came in and did his job. That's what he's supposed to do."

In the seventh, with the score tied at 1, Dwight Maness led off with a single. At that point a slight rain began to fall but didn't, at first, seem to be anything significant.

Nelson Abreu sacrificed Maness, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored, to second and the rain picked up - so much so that there was doubt whether the game would continue.

Pinch-hitter Isaias Nunez then grounded out to first and, with the rain's intensity increasing, Jesus Azauje singled to score the game-winning run. Coincidentally, as Gil Martinez grounded out to first to end the inning, the rain stopped for the evening.

"You just try to get on base and score any way you can," said Maness, who has struggled through August but has raised his average over .250 for the first time since July.

"Hopefully, I'm back on track. For some reason, we can't seem to play well at home. We do much better on the road. I have no idea why. I'm just glad I'm contributing and playing better now."

Lehigh (32-74 overall, 14-29 half) took the lead with a run in the top of the second inning.

John Adams led off with a double into the left-center field gap. Harvey Hargrove followed with a soft grounder to second. Shark second baseman Raul Rodarte charged the ball, but his rushed throw went into the Sharks' dugout. Adams scored to make the score 1-0.

Mikkelson escaped the rest of the inning without allowing another run. The run eventually was ruled an earned run because Chris Van Rossum hit a fly to right that would have scored Adams. It was the first run and earned run allowed by Mikkelson since the fourth inning of the Sharks' 3-0 loss Aug. 7 at Newark - a string of 21 consecutive innings.

The Sharks (40-65, 16-26) tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the fifth.

Email this story to a friend