Rockets refuse to lose

Doug Tinsley strolled confidently down the first-base line as Portland prepared to bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, trailing by one.
“We’re going to win this right here,” the assistant coach said.
The Rocket players delivered.
Pinch hitter Mitch Waters drew a one-out walk and scored the tying run on a double by Dalton Tinsley, who then slid home with the winning run when a Logan Hug grounder to the right side skipped away from Fort Wayne Expos second baseman Cody O’Neal.
The 5-4 win was Portland’s 11th in a row as it closed the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of the Expos to improve to 27-5-1.
“We’ve won 24 out of 25 games and a lot of them have been close games,” said manager Randy Miller, whose team won Sunday’s opener 8-0. “That was a character-builder right there, a gut check.”
“I think it’s just the chemistry we have,” added Dalton Tinsley, who went 4-for-4 with two doubles, three RBIs and a run in the second game. “We never panic and just keep playing the game.”
Portland had runners in scoring position with less than two outs in the third, fourth and fifth innings Sunday, failing to score each time. But when Waters shook off a nagging back injury, entered the game and drew a walk in the seventh, his teammates were ready to come through.
Tinsley hit a line drive that rolled all the way to the fence in right-center field, and Waters, who had scored from first base on a single and an error in the opener, was stunned when he saw Miller waving him home again.
“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ That’s all I was thinking,” said the Jay County High School graduate. “But I knew that if he was waving me, obviously I had a good chance to score, so I had to do it.”
Waters grimaced as he hustled down the third-base line, but crossed the plate standing up to tie the game.
Then it was Hug’s turn to swing away after laying down sacrifice bunts in two of his previous three at bats. The Ancilla College product put a ball in play on the right side that O’Neal got a glove on but couldn’t corral.
Again Miller had his arm churning and Tinsley slid home with the winning run as the throw to the plate sailed high.
“I knew Dalton was on second. With his speed, all I had to do was get it to the outfield so I really didn’t try to do too much,” said Hug. “The pitchers had been throwing strikes all day so I just looked for one to take to the right side.”
Portland’s only loss in the last six weeks came by a 6-0 score July 5 against the Fort Wayne Jackers in the opening round of the Firecracker Classic.
But the Rockets bounced back to win that tournament with three straight 2-1 victories, including an elimination game against the Expos in which they cut down the potential game-tying run at the plate for the final out.
“We played the best we could with nine guys,” said Fort Wayne manager Kyle Sorlie of his short-handed squad. “We had two pitchers out here working their tails off. We just couldn’t get it done.”
The Expos (9-9) led Sunday’s second game 4-3 after an error helped them plate three runs in the fourth inning.
They held off three Portland scoring opportunities before the Rockets got the job done in its final at bat.
Tyler Reynolds gave up just one hit in three scoreless innings of relief for the win.
Dan Bollenbacher needed no help on the mound in the opener as he was perfect through 3 2/3 innings and had a no-hitter through four.
The South Adams High School graduate struck out 11 batters while giving up just two hits in the complete-game win.
Portland’s pitchers have struck out 30 batters in their last three games.
“We’re in every game because we’ve got those kind of arms,” said Miller. “Guys like Bollenbacher are our workhorses.”
Zach Tanner recorded two hits, including a triple, a run and an RBI in the opener.
Geoff Bowers had two hits and a run, and Austin Bridges added a double, a run and an RBI.
The Rockets will host the World Baseball Classic beginning Friday before traveling to Louisville a week later to player in the National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament.
They made their first trip to the NABF World Series last season.[[In-content Ad]]