Sluggers rough up Rockets

Mitch Waters was one pitch away from getting through back-to-back scoreless innings.
The Portland Rockets and Summit City Sluggers were tied at three in the seventh inning Thursday night, and with two outs Waters’ payoff pitch to Jamar Weaver missed the strike zone.
The Rockets weren’t able to get back on track.
Evan VanSumeran drew another walk, and his teammates behind him had six hits — including back-to-back doubles — to score six runs in the frame.
Portland put up a fight with three in the bottom of the seventh and two more in the ninth but fell to Summit City 10-8 in its first home game in a month.
“We had fool’s gold,” said Portland manager Randy Miller, whose team travels to Fort Wayne to take on the Expos at 7 p.m. tonight then returns home at 1 p.m. Saturday for a doubleheader against the same squad. “We had two outs and Mitch — stubborn and doesn’t want to leave the game — we let him try to get the third out.
“It magically didn’t happen. Then the floodgates opened. We were the team to beat at that point. We just didn’t get it done.”
Following VanSumeran’s walk to give Summit City (14-7) runners on first and second, Dalton Combs ripped a two-run double to deep left field. His third of four hits — he finished with two doubles, a pair of singles and five RBIs — chased Waters from the contest.
“Dalton Combs has been swinging the bat for the last few weeks really well,” said Andy McLain, Summit City’s manager. “He had a big one there to get us going.”
Waters pitched well up until the two-out walk to VanSumeran. He scattered seven hits over 6 2/3 innings and allowed six runs, five of which were earned.
After striking out one batter in the second inning, he found his groove with three punchouts in each of the fifth and sixth innings, and two in the seventh. But that is when fatigue set in. Waters finished with nine strikeouts and walked five.
“It is what it is,” Miller said, disappointed at the six-run frame given how close the game was until that point. “The manager gambled on pitching choices.”
Austin Branock pitched in relief and wasn’t able to get the third out. Evan Brown ripped the first pitch he saw to deep left-center field for an RBI double, and a rare error by Portland shortstop Alex Delk scored another run. Conner Lengerich and Dylan Hendricks hit back-to-back singles to load the bases before John Tuttle hit a two-run single to cap the inning.
Chandler Ingle, a 2015 South Adams High School graduate, came in to pitch after Branock and got the final out of the inning.
Despite the six-run deficit, Portland kept fighting.
Brandon Reamon and Justin Marrero hit consecutive one-out singles in the bottom of the seventh inning to bring Delk to the plate. The Cowan High School product blasted Sluggers reliever Clay Adamson’s 2-1 offering over the fence in left field for a three-run home run.
It was his second such bomb in as many games.
“He hit the snot out of that ball,” McLain said. Delk cut the score to 9-6.
Portland loaded the bases later in the inning but couldn’t capitalize on the scoring opportunity. The Rockets stranded a dozen runners for the third straight game.
Summit City added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI single by — who else, Combs — to make it 10-6.
Dunkirk native and Jay County graduate Thomas McCowan hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Dalton Tinsley, representing the potential tying run, walked to give Portland runners on first and second, but Reamon went down on strikes to end the game.
“We had to score 10 runs (to win) and we could have,” said Miller, whose team out-hit Summit City 14-13. Bill Geeslin, Reamon, Marrero, Waters and McCowan each had multi-hit games.
“I wanted to see Justin Marrero bat with bases loaded (in the ninth inning),” Miller said. “He is a game changer potentially every time.”