METAIRIE, La. — Rick Short went 4-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI to lead the New Orleans Zephyrs to a 3-1 win over the Portland Beavers Thursday night at Zephyr Field.

Short’s hot bat denied Portland a win and its first winning series on the road since June 3. The Beavers (54-63) kick-off a nine-game homestand Friday night at PGE Park at7:05 p.m. with the first of five games against the Colorado Springs Sky Sox.

Short hit .666 (10-for-15) with a home run and five RBIs during the Zephyrs’ four-game series with Portland to improve his professional-baseball leading average to .395.

With the Zephyrs (54-62) trailing 1-0, Short hit his third single of the night off Brian Sweeney to start the seventh. Kevin Orie followed Short’s single with a drive to left-center that cleared the wall to put the Zephyrs up 2-1.

Short added an RBI-single in the eighth to give the Zephyrs their final margin of victory.

The Beavers got to Zephyrs’ starter Kip Bouknight in the second inning but were only able to get one run despite loading the bases with no outs. After allowing consecutive singles to Paul McAnulty, Jon Knott and Dustin Delluchi, Bouknight got Wilson Valdez to line out for the inning’s first out. He then walked Michel Hernandez to force in the Beavers lone run.

Sweeney followed by grounding out to Bouknight and Sean Burroughs struck out to end Portland’s threat with the bases loaded.

A night after only managing five singles, the Beavers again struggled offensively, finishing with a double and four singles. C.J. Nitkowski (4-2) worked the sixth and seventh innings for the win and headed a Zephyrs bullpen that pitched four hitless innings and struck out four in relief of Bouknight.

Sweeney (3-3) took the loss for the Beavers despite only allowing the two runs in 6 2/3 innings. He struck out eighth and surrendered seven hits.

Brad Baker gave up one run on two hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief work for the Beavers.

NOTES: Valdez extended his season-high hitting streak to nine games with a single in the fourth inning.

Beavers Game File
THURSDAY’S GAME: New Orleans 3, Beavers 1.
WINNING PITCHER: Nitkowski (4-2).
LOSING PITCHER: Sweeney (3-3).
SAVE: Hughes (11).
HOME RUNS: Orie (18).
FRIDAY’S GAME: Colorado Springs (Jason Young: 9-7, 5.90); at Portland (Ryan Snare: 1-1, 7.84) at 7:05 p.m; live broadcast on KKAD AM-1550 and www.portlandbeavers.com, beginning at 6:40 p.m.