Charlton Jimerson and Tike Redmond hit home runs off Lancaster reliever Eddie Camacho (3-3) in the top of the 10th inning and the Newark Bears beat the Lancaster Barnstormers, 8-7, in the first game of a three-game series Tuesday night at Clipper Magazine Stadium.

The 'Stormers had the Bears right where they wanted them, holding a two-run lead with two innings left. And after set-up reliever Nick Abel threw a scoreless eighth, Lancaster closer Antonio Alfonseca came in to pitch the ninth. But the end of the game deviated from the 'Stormers' plan.

Instead of recording his eighth save of the season, Alfonseca got his fifth blown save of the year when Newark scored two runs in the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

"That's a tough one to swallow," Lancaster manager Tom Herr said. "We navigated through the whole game. We got it where we wanted it. We just weren't able to finish it out."

Alfonseca started the ninth by hitting Jimerson. He then gave up a single to Redmond and an RBI double by Andres Perez that made it 6-5. After intentionally walking Carl Everett to load the bases, Alfonseca got the first out of the inning on a fly to right. He walked Rob Mackowiak to force in the tying run, before fanning Sandy Madera and Michael Hernandez to end the inning with the bases loaded.

"It was a tough break trying to come inside to the leadoff hitter with two strikes in the ninth, and it just nicked him," Herr said. "They have a good hitting club; you just can't give them anything. That was the one thing we gave them.

"If we get that leadoff out, that whole inning changes. But once he got in trouble, I thought he did a good job to keep it tied. He really battled. They had the bases loaded, one out, and they didn't score again."

Newark closer Keith Foulke gave up a solo home run to Gerard Haran in the 10th, but that was all the 'Stormers got as Foulke picked up his 11th save of the season.

Newark reliever Shane Komine (4-3) pitched three scoreless innings to get the win.

"We'll come back and snatch one from somebody at some point," Herr said. "We'll come back and win one the other team thinks they should have won. That just happens. There's no sure thing in this game. That's why hopefully when we have chances to win like we did tonight, we'll put most of them away."

Michael Woods and Jed Morris each hit two-run homers in the game. Morris' sixth-inning, two-run homer off Newark reliever Cory Willey barely reached the picnic area beyond the 17-foot, right-field wall. But it had just enough to reach the seats and snap a 3-3 tie to gave the 'Stormers the lead. Anderson Machado scored an unearned run later in the inning for a 6-3 lead.

Newark took a 3-0 lead off Lancaster starter Eric Ackerman in the fourth on Victor Mercedes' two-run triple and Jimerson's RBI drag-bunt single. Ackerman pitched five innings, giving up the three runs on seven hits, with three strikeouts and two walks. He left with the score tied 3-3.

Lancaster responded in the bottom of the fourth with Woods' homer to right-center off Newark starter Jose Garcia. Woods reached base 4-of-5 times he came to the plate. In addition to his homer, he walked twice and reached on an error.

The 'Stormers then tied the game 3-3 in the fifth on back-to-back doubles by Haran and Machado.

"We feel like we can score runs," Herr said. "We're going to be able to put big innings up there. So 3-0 certainly isn't insurmountable, especially in this ballpark. But the key against (Newark) is you've got to keep them from having big innings. They're going to score some runs too, but you need to stay away from those real big innings."

Andres Perez' homer off Lancaster reliever Jim Heuser made it 6-4 in the seventh, setting the stage for Abel and Alfonseca.

E-mail: bwilson@lnpnews.com