Portland dusts Birds

Decatur hung around for a while. But the Rockets came up with their typical late-inning outburst.

The Portland Rockets turned in another big offensive day Wednesday, using an eight-run eighth inning to send the visiting Decatur Dirty Birds home an inning early with a 13-2 defeat.

The Painter brothers keyed the eighth inning, with Jensen (Olney College) smashing a home run over the left-field fence and Tyler (Parkway High School) delivering a bases-loaded double. Jensen finished with four hits and three RBIs, and Tyler had a pair of hits.

Cameron Branock, Riley Muhlenkamp and Kris Gottschall added two hits apiece.

The offense supported an impressive effort on the mound from Jay County High School graduate Josh Atkinson. The Manchester College pitcher scattered six hits in seven innings as he struck out nine batters and did not allow a walk.

Tyler Mills tossed the eighth inning to finish off the win.

Portland has won 10 of its previous 12 games to improve to 19-10. The team has scored seven or more runs in seven of its last eight games.[[In-content Ad]]