Don’t miss rare chance to see Rockets play

Remember the Rockets?
It would be easy to understand if local fans had forgotten about Portland’s boys of summer. They haven’t had much of a season.
That statement has nothing to do with the quality of the team’s play, but rather the frequency.
When the Portland Rockets returned Thursday to Runkle-Miller Field for Crossroads Night, it marked their first home game in a full month.
The team that calls the corner of Western Avenue and Blaine Pike home has had 25 games postponed or canceled this year because of wet weather in Portland and throughout the region. That included a 15-day gap between a 7-6 win June 24 over Indiana Tech’s summer team and a 3-0 loss July 10 to the Miami Wolverines.
Fifteen days off is an eternity for a summer baseball team that generally has a pair of doubleheaders scheduled each weekend with a couple of weekday games in between. Usually that span would be three cycles through the starting rotation.
All of that — the rain, the time off, the lack of summer baseball — is the bad news.
The good news is this week’s forecast, and the opportunity it offers.
According to the current National Weather Service outlook, there will not be a drop of rain in Jay County through at least Saturday. Skies will be sunny or mostly sunny, with highs in the low 80s.
That means a chance for the area to dry out. It also means a chance to play — and watch — some baseball.
The Rockets are scheduled to close their regular season at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a home game against the Fort Wayne Panthers. That will serve as a warm-up to the weekend’s World Baseball Congress tournament to which the team annually plays host.
That means a chance to see Portland play as many as five times in a span of five days. For baseball-starved fans, that’s a nice late-summer gift.
Though they haven’t gotten to show it as much as they would have liked this year, the Rockets are once again an elite amateur baseball team. In 20 games, they’ve picked up 15 wins, including a seven-game winning streak early in the season.
Sure, Portland isn’t going to reach the 25-win mark for the fourth straight season. But its .750 winning percentage is still plenty impressive.
The Rockets have an extensive list of veterans powering their play this year, with leadoff hitter Dalton Tinsley at the top of the lineup card. Always a spark plug for the offense and the type of player guaranteed to leave the field with his uniform dirty, the centerfielder is among a group of six regulars who have been with the team for at least four seasons prior to this year.
That list has plenty of local flair, with elder statesman Mitch Waters, a 2002 Jay County High School graduate, fellow starting pitching Dan Bollenbacher (South Adams) and first baseman Thomas McCowan (Jay County). Third baseman Billy Geeslin (Coldwater) and pitcher Tyler Reynolds (Muncie Southside) round out the group.
And while some of the most experienced Portland players have local ties, so do some of the youngest. Class of 2014 graduates Kyle Selvey (Jay County) and Collin Affolder (South Adams) have also played key roles this year.
Shortstop Alex Delk and catcher Chris Miller make up the rest of the core of a Rockets’ squad that would like to end its washed-out season with a memorable tournament run. The WBC, after all, serves as a prelude to the National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament — this year in Kankakee, Illinois.
Portland has won an NABF regional just once, taking the title in Cincinnati in 2012 to advance to the World Series. The team would like to add another trophy to its mantle.
Local baseball fans are unlikely to be able to make the trip to Illinois to support the squad. And that’s why this week is so important.
It’s a chance for baseball-starved fans to see their favorite sport after spending weeks dealing with rain and flooding. And it’s also an opportunity to support the players that serve as summer baseball ambassadors for our city.
So put away the umbrellas, remember the Rockets and enjoy a few games.