Rockets top Decatur

For the last several seasons, the Rockets had dominated the series with their closest rival. But this year, they dropped their first two meetings against the Decatur Dirty Birds.
On Wednesday night, Portland dusted itself off and rallied from a 3-0 deficit behind a group of area graduates and a returning Rocket in his first home game of the season to hand Decatur a 7-3 defeat.
Thomas McCowan, a Jay County High School graduate, drove in two runs, and Mark Isenberg (Blackford) and Riley Muhlenkamp (Coldwater) smacked two hits. Dan Bollenbacher (South Adams High School) and Bill Gesslin (Coldwater) took care of the duties on the mound, and Bryan Brudi, back after spending the first half of the summer in Australia, blasted a solo home run.
“This is a big win for us,” said Rockets manager Randy Miller, whose team also defeated Indiana Wesleyan 9-1 Tuesday and is now 12-12 on the season. “(Decatur is) a good ball club, and this was a playoff atmosphere.
“Our ball club is starting to gel. They’re no doubt about it.”
Portland, which had dropped games 7-0 and 4-3 in 11 innings to the Dirty Birds this season, looked as if it was headed to a third loss as it fell behind 3-0 midway through the fourth inning. But consecutive walks from Heath Williams (Jay County) and Chris Tillery in the bottom of the frame got the Rockets going as they would score seven unanswered runs.
Williams crossed the plate with the first Portland run on a sacrifice fly from Justin Marrero, and Riley Muhlenkamp walked to put runners on first and second bases. McCowan and Isenberg each added RBI singles, and Muhlenkamp scored on a wild pitch as the Rockets took the lead for good.
McCowan reached base on an error and scored in the fifth inning, and Brudi connected with his home run over the left-field fence with two outs in the seventh.
In the eighth, Isenberg reached base when he was hit by a pitch, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an Ingram sacrifice fly.
“Brudi hitting the home run was a real lift,” said Miller. “He’s a big addition. (His) hitting is contagious.”
Other hits for the Rockets came from Tillery, who drew two walks, and Marrero.
After Bollenbacher tossed five-plus solid innings — he allowed two runs on six hits while striking out four — Gesslin came in and slammed the door.
With two runners on and no outs in the sixth, he struck out the first two batters he faced. He gave up a walk to load the bases, but then got Aaron Schuerman to fly out to right field to end the inning.
Geeslin added five more strikeouts while giving up just a pair of hits in four innings.
“When you’ve got two horses like Bollenbacher and Gesslin, you’re going to be in the ball game,” said Miller. “(Geeslin is) Billy ball game. He wants the ball. He brings the energy. He’s just a gamer.”
The defense helped its pitching duo, with Heath Williams and Marrero turning a 4-6-3 double play in the opening inning. In the fifth, catcher John Clawson threw out Bryce Murphy trying to steal second base.
Ryan Fuller took the loss for Decatur, giving up four runs on three hits and four walks in four innings. Three of those walks came in the Rockets’ four-run fourth.
Dan Maringer led the Dirty Birds as he finished with two hits, including a two-run single to right field in the fourth inning. Austin Grate also had two hits, and Corey Marchant tallied two runs.
Brudi led the Rockets in their eight-run win Tuesday over Indiana Wesleyan, tallying three hits and three RBIs. He had the key hit in their three-run third inning with a triple.
McCowan and Tillery each added a pair of hits.
Tyler Mills dominated on the mound, allowing just five hits in seven innings of shutout ball. Tyler Palmer finished off the game, and the Rockets defense totaled four double plays.[[In-content Ad]]