Rockets clobber Sox

Another trip to Portland ended in another defeat for the Fort Wayne Red Sox.
Led by another big offensive performance from Ben Smith, the Portland Rockets smacked their visitors from the north 11-2 Friday evening. They had defeated Fort Wayne 13-0 and 11-1 Sunday at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.
Smith powered Portland (27-9) to another victory at home with hits in each of his first three at bats, including a two-run home run in the second inning. He also had an RBI single in the first inning and a single in the fourth, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs.
The home run by Smith gave the Rockets a 5-0 lead. Geoff Bowers added a two-run double in the third inning, and Portland added another run in the fourth inning and three more runs in the seventh.
Cody Campbell went 2-for-3 with a double, a run and an RBI. Thomas McCowan, a Jay County High School graduate, added two hits and a run, and Brad Kindred scored twice.
Heath Williams and Brady Roundtree each had a hit and a run. Williams also made the defensive play of the game to end the fifth inning.
With two runs on base Kyle Sorte of the Red Sox hit a soft grounder that died on the right side of the infield, and pitcher Brad Benbow and first baseman Nate Clem both gave chase. They were left in no-man’s land with no one covering first base, before Williams turned on the afterburners.
He caught a flip from Clem in full stride and beat Sorte to first base by a step-and-a-half for the final out of the frame.
Benbow got the victory, allowing two runs on three hits in five innings of work. Tyler Reynolds finished off the win.
Zach Stern gave up seven runs on five hits and two walks to suffer the defeat.[[In-content Ad]]