Rockets No. 2 in tourney

The Rockets faced Battle Creek twice in the World Baseball Congress Tournament in Portland this weekend, but just couldn’t muster up enough offense to top them either time.
Portland went 3-2 in tournament play and finished as runners up after falling to Battle Creek in the championship game Sunday.
Battle Creek’s pitching shut down the Rockets in the finale as Portland could only deliver two hits — one of them solo homer by Bryan Brudi — in the 4-1 loss.
The Rockets opened Friday night with a dominant 10-1 win over the Cincinnati Chiefs. 2002 Jay County High School grad Mitch Waters, who pitched in Italy for the Sala Baganza Baseball Club this summer, was in Portland for the tournament and iced the Chiefs, throwing a no-hitter in the sixth inning on seven strikeouts. 2004 JCHS grad Heath Williams got the Rockets going with a solo shot to left field in the third, which opened up the offense the rest of the way.
After the rain cleared Saturday morning, the Rockets stomped the Fort Wayne Pirates 12-4. Will Walters threw fanned 10 batters on the mound, giving up only five hits. Brudi racked up four hits and Mark Isenberg had three in the win.
Saturday night was game one against Battle Creek and although the Rockets rallied in the last inning, they came up short in a 4-3 loss. Portland scored three times in the bottom of the seventh and Brudi came in for the tying run but was thrown out at the plate. Dan Bollenbacher gave up all four runs on six hits and six walks. Portland only had four hits in the game.
With a 2-1 record coming out of Saturday, the Rockets qualified for Sunday’s semifinal and took down Merrillville’s Northwest Patriots 6-2 to make it to the final. Bill Geeslin picked up the win, tossing six innings and striking out eight. Portland broke the game open in the fourth with a bases-loaded single by Waters followed by a bases-clearing three-run triple by Thomas McCowan.
In the championship rematch against Battle Creek, Waters K’ed 10 batters but surrended three runs. The Rockets couldn’t get going offensively against Battle Creek’s Cam Bortell, who held the tournament hosts to two hits.
Brudi shined at the plate throughout the tournament, going 8-for-15 with seven batted-in and eight runs for the Rockets, who improved to 18-17 on the season. Williams has six hits, three RBIs and five runs on the weekend and McCowan also chipped in six hits. Waters led the Rockets from the mound with 17 strikeouts in 13 innings on the weekend.[[In-content Ad]]