Rockets roll at home

With a few players on loan from Portland, Indiana Wesleyan was able to field a team and the Rockets took advantage of the chance to play, cruising to an easy 7-3 victory.
Indiana Wesleyan knew it was going to be short players Tuesday, but Rockets manager Randy Miller offered the visitors a couple of ex-Rockets so Portland’s squad could keep in rhythm with the World Baseball Congress Tournament approaching next weekend.
“They knew they were going to be short, they were going to cancel,” Miller said before he offered former Rocket Corey Locke, who brought some players he coaches on the Jay-Randolph American Legion team to fill out Wesleyan’s roster. “We played baseball, got our pitchers some work, our hitters are getting more timing, we’re getting into some consistent rhythms out here.”
The Rockets (13-14) were in command Tuesday night on the backs of pitchers Derek Mounsey and Will Walters, who combined for eight shutout innings.
Mounsey, who picked up the win, dominated in the first five innings, throwing five strikeouts while giving up one hit and five walks.Walters continued over the next three, tossing four K’s and giving up three hits.
“They have good stuff, but they have no command,” Miller said. “It’s been this late in the year and they’re just now starting to catch on, to lock on. Their coordinates are still blurry but they’re starting to see the crosshairs.
“When they (improve their control) do they’ll be good college pitchers. They’re not there yet, we’re their springboard.”
The Portland offense got started in the second on a leadoff triple from Mark Isenberg, who scored on a double steal later in the inning with Michael Ingram going to second. Ingram came around later on an RBI single from Bryce Cook.
The Rockets piled on two more in the third after a pair of errors by Indiana Wesleyan and added three more in the fifth after two walks and a single by Jay County High School graduate Thomas McCowan to load the bases. Ingram, Brandon VanMatre and John Clawson all smacked in runs.
Indiana Wesleyan got on the board in the ninth off McCowan, who gave up three runs after surrendering five walks and a two-run double. Indiana Wesleyan also eked one across the plate after catcher Blake Turner fired a ball to third trying to catch a stealing runner after a ball in the dirt, but no one was near the base to grab the throw.
Isenberg was the only Rocket with two hits on the evening, including the second-inning triple off the left-center fence. Ingram collected two RBIs both on sacrifice flies and late-inning subs Cody Johnson and Turner both smashed doubles in their only at-bats.
Miller is looking forward to tonight’s game at Decatur — the Rockets are 1-2 against the Dirty Birds this season — and a pair of home double-headers this weekend to get his team over the .500 hump.
“I’ll take this team up against anybody but usually somebody’s got a little better pitcher on the mound, a little older, a little more command,” he said. “But we’ll just hammer it out with them.”[[In-content Ad]]