Jamestown Jammer pitcher Brad Hand set three Williamsport batters down in order to open a New York-Penn League minor-league ballgame on Thursday.

The Jammers’ Ernie Banks hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first, and that’s all Hand would need.

The Chaska grad allowed two hits over six shutout innings, striking out three and walking three in a 7-0 victory for the Florida Marlins' short-season Class A club.

Hand struck out the first batter of the sixth inning and got two groundouts to cap his outing.

Arquimedes Caminero relieved Hand and threw the seventh and final inning.

The win helped Jamestown in the push for the playoffs, as a doubleheader sweep on Friday over Williamsport clinched a wild-card berth in the league playoffs. It was the first time the team has clinched the Pinckney Division title and advanced to the playoffs in seven seasons.

Jamestown hosts Staten Island on Monday to start the first playoff round.

Hand was tagged with the loss in his first two starts with Jamestown. He gave up six hits and two earned runs while striking out five and walking three over 4-2/3 innings in a 5-3 loss to Batavia on Aug. 31.

Hand’s first Jammers start on Aug. 26 against State College went well, through Jamestown lost 5-3.

State College put up two first-inning runs on a single, triple and a wild pitch. But Hand got out of the inning, and allowed no hits in the next three frames. He walked the first two Spikes hitters in the fourth inning, and a reliever gave up an RBI single and a two-run double.

Hand has 10 walks and 12 strikeouts and an earned-run average of 3.00 over three starts and 15 innings for the Jammers since being promoted from the Marlins’ Gulf Coast League affiliate in Jupiter, Fla. in late August.