PORTLAND ­ The Southern Oregon Timberjacks maintained a share offirst place Thursday despite losing 6-4 to the Portland Rockies in NorthwestLeague baseball.

However, the Timberjacks' chances of staying on top received a blow whenthree of their top pitchers were sent to long-season Class A teams.

Southern Oregon sent right-hander Chris Enochs (0-0, 4.70), the OaklandAthletics' top choice in the June draft, to Modesto, Calif. Two other highdraft choices, left-hander Eric DuBose (1-0, 0.00), like Enochs a first-rounder,and right-hander Chad Harville (1-0, 0.00), a second-round pick, were sentto Visalia, Calif.

The thinning-out process had been expected, having been reported on earlierin the week.

In Thursday's game, Jason Franklin hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning,snapping a 2-2 tie and powering Portland to the win.

Todd Sears and Franklin added back-to-back RBI singles in the seventhas the Rockies built a 6-2 lead, but the Timberjacks wouldn't go down quietly.They rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth.

Brad Gorrie led off the eighth with a single to center field and advancedto third base when the ball skipped past Rockies outfielder Andres Mitchell.After a walk to Nicolas Sosa, Victor Hernandez hit a two-run double. Hernandezthen raced home on a wild pitch, cutting Portland's lead to 6-5.

But Southern Oregon couldn't push across the tying run and then Rockiescloser Dave Johnson put down the Timberjacks in order in the ninth.

Timberjacks outfielder Mike Koerner had a pair of hits to extend hishitting streak to 10 games.

The two teams complete their three-game series tonight at 7:05.