An odd ending

The Rockets are a confident bunch.
So when they headed to the plate for their final at bat with a one-run deficit, they believed they would get the hits necessary to produce a win.
They didn’t need any.
Two walks and three hit batsmen, including two in a row with the bases loaded, lifted host Portland to a 5-4 victory over the Michigan Area Braves in Sunday’s World Baseball Congress tournament championship game.
“The Rockets don’t quit. The Rockets team up. The Rockets persevere. The Rockets rally,” said manager Randy Miller, whose team’s last WBC title came in 2012 and sparked a run to the National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series. “I’m proud of this group.”
After Portland scored twice in the sixth inning to pull within one, leadoff hitter Dalton Tinsley opened the bottom of the final frame with a walk that drove Michigan Area reliever Jacob Bennett from the game. The change mattered little, as Brandon Reamon was hit by a pitch from Brian Fenauer and Justin Marrero drew another walk to load the bases.
Braves manager Jim Kosmerick went to the bullpen again — it marked his fifth pitching change — but Ken Reeves immediately tossed an inside pitch that hit Alex Delk in the elbow. The result was Tinsley crossing the plate with the tying run and two Michigan Area players being tossed from the game for arguing that Delk had leaned into the pitch.
That put the game in the hands of one of the youngest Rockets, Collin Affolder.
The 2014 South Adams High School graduate popped up the first pitch he saw into foul territory, but first baseman Brendan Harrison was unable to track the ball down near the bullpen.
With new life, Affolder was hoping to smack a walk-off hit, but never got the chance. Like Delk before him, he absorbed an offering from Reeves in the left arm and Reamon crossed the plate on the rare walk-off hit by pitch.
“I was really nervous up there,” said Affolder. “I just wanted to get a hit. The second pitch came … and I was looking to hit it, saw it was coming at me so I just turned and took it.”
Until Reamon scored the game-winning run, the Rockets had not led in the game.
Michigan Area (30-10), a team based out of Saginaw, Michigan, took control early with two first-inning runs. But aggressiveness on the base paths halted a couple of early rallies.
With a chance at a third run in the first inning, Kosmerick waved Seth Holton around third base on a single to shallow center field off the bat of Hunter Gatza. The runner never had a chance, as center fielder Dalton Tinsley came up firing and threw him out at the plate by about 30 feet.
“We’re the last line of defense and we just try to make plays when we need them,” said Tinsley, who added a second outfield assist to gun down a runner at the plate in the sixth inning.
The Braves had a chance to tack on more runs in the third inning with Holton and Eric Burt on base and one out. Gatza smacked the third hit of the inning to right field for a single, and again, Kosmerick sent Holton chugging toward the plate.
Affolder came up firing, and catcher T.J. Lindstrand again took the throw and put the tag on Holton. Lindstrand then fired to shortstop Billy Geeslin at second base to complete a 9-2-6 double play as Gatza tried to advance on the throw.
“That’s the way I do it. I’m going to send my guys no matter what and make the outfielders make the play,” said Kosmerick. “And today they made the plays. So hats off to them.”
Tinsley, who homered and drove in five runs in the Rockets’ tournament win Saturday evening over the Miami Valley Wolverines, reached base three times on a hit and two walks and scored twice. Chris Miller drove in two runs with a double to right-center field in the sixth inning to set up the odd bottom of the seventh.
Tinsley paced Portland in the four-game tournament with six hits, five runs and five RBIs. Miller added three RBIs and two runs, and Linstrand had two doubles, a triple and two runs.
Alex Delk earned the championship win, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.
Portland won its tournament opener 2-0 Friday over the Fort Wayne Jackers, then lost 3-1 to Michigan Area early Saturday afternoon. It came back to beat Miami Valley 7-1 Saturday evening to earn its spot in the championship game.