Rockets rally, win WBC

The Rockets had not lost at home all season.
When it finally happened Saturday, they did not enjoy the feeling.
So facing deficits in the sixth inning of both games Sunday, they simply wouldn’t let it happen again.
Portland came back from deficits of 2-1 in the first game and 3-1 in the second against the Summit City Cougars to win both — 5-2 and 6-5 in eight innings. Dalton Tinsley came sliding home with the winning run for the second straight weekend in game two, giving the host Rockets the World Baseball Congress Tournament title for the second straight year.
“Rocket rally man. That’s how we do it,” said Portland manager Randy Miller, whose team is 30-6-1. “You just had a feeling that we were going to find a way. But they did tie the game, and anything could happen … But good players make plays.”
Portland split with the Fort Wayne Jackers on Saturday, winning the opening game 2-1 before falling apart in a 14-6 loss in game two.
But the two wins Sunday gave the home team the tournament title as it finished with a 3-1 record compared to 2-1 for the Jackers and 0-3 for the Cougars.
The Rockets needed four sixth-inning runs to steal the first game from the visiting Cougars in Sunday’s action. They got four more in game two to take a 5-3 lead thanks to three straight hits from Austin Bridges, Geoff Bowers and Mitch Waters, but Summit City would not go away.
The Cougars scored twice off of Jay County High School graduate Waters, who had saved the first game, to pull even and force extra innings. But after Zach Tanner shut down the Cougar bats in the top of the eighth, Tinsley did his job again.
Portland’s leadoff hitter, who was 1-for-7 on the day at that point, came through with a single back up the middle. After a fly ball for the first out, a walk to Justin Marrero moved Tinsley to second base and brought Tanner to the plate.
The Wright State University graduate said he was trying to go deep to end the game. Instead he hit a ground ball to his shortstop counterpart, Andrew Degood, and that was enough.
Tanner’s grounder skittered past Degood and into shallow left-center field, and Miller waved Tinsley around third base.
He came sliding home with the winning run without a throw, a week after he did the same in the Rockets’ final at bat in a 5-4 win over the Fort Wayne Expos.
“I was just watching Randy,” said Tinsley. “I saw (the ball) go behind me (toward the shortstop) and once he started waving me I just went.
“It felt great.”
Tanner got the win in his one inning of relief, a surprise appearance given that he had not taken the mound in a competitive situation since he was in high school at Yorktown.
But with the pitching staff depleted, the tournament MVP stepped forward.
“(Miller) wanted to throw (Alex) Delk, but Delk threw two innings yesterday,” said Tanner. “I was like, ‘Put me in there. I’ll throw strikes.’
“You never forget how to pitch.”
Tanner got two ground ball outs, walked a batter and then induced a pop-up to end the top of the eighth and set the stage for another Portland walk-off win.
South Adams High School graduate Dan Bollenbacher celebrated his 24th birthday by shutting down the Cougars in the opener.
Summit City got a couple of unearned runs against him in the first inning, but he blanked them over the next five while striking out nine batters.
Waters, in his first appearance since suffering a back strain two weeks earlier, tossed a one-two-three seventh for the save.
Junior Santos and Dylan Brammer combined to limit the Fort Wayne Jackers to one run in Saturday’s opener before the Portland pitching struggled in the second game. The Jackers tagged Michael Caley for five runs — three earned — in the second inning of game two, and the Rockets were unable to get back in it.
Portland, which finished 14-1 and home, will take to the road this week to play in the National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament in Louisville.
The tournament draw will be Wednesday, with the first game scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday.
The Rockets earned their first NABF regional title and World Series berth last season.[[In-content Ad]]