July 25, 2018 at 4:02 a.m.
Rockets rally, open regional Friday
Portland caps regular season winners of five in a row
Rockets rally, open regional Friday
Copyright 2018, The Commercial Review
All Rights Reserved
At one point the Rockets had dropped three straight games at home.
They’ve since gotten their groove back.
Just in time to host a regional tournament.
Tristen Becker blooped an RBI single to kickstart a four-run sixth inning as the Portland Rockets pushed their winning streak to five games with a 7-4 victory Tuesday against the Napoleon River Bandits at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.
“Clutch. Dramatic. Exciting,” said Portland manager Randy Miller, whose team improves ends the regular season 14-10 and hosts the NABF regional on Friday. “Getting our mojo, getting key base hits back-to-back and that’s something we’ve been missing.”
Mitch Waters, a 2002 Jay County High School graduate, roped a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Malave Bettinger walked. Cody Krumlauf loaded the bases with a single to right center ahead of Becker’s first hit of the game that scored Waters from third and put the Rockets out front 4-3.
A wild pitch on a strikeout plated Payton Heniser — Bettinger’s pinch runner — and yet another offering hit the backstop allowing Krumlauf to score.
Portland scored its final run of the game on a fielding error with runners at the corners.
“Hope our guys are finding some swag,” Miller said. “Seems like we were waiting for bad things to happen. We saw good things happen. That’s winning baseball.”
The Rockets opened the scoring their first time to the plate. Dustin Lewis led off with an infield single to short, moved to second on a walk and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice before scoring on a wild pitch.
Napoleon (30-20), which is made up of high school players and soon-to-be college players, tied the game as Landon Willeman hit an RBI double in the third inning off Portland starter Derek Thobe.
But Portland grabbed a 3-1 advantage with two runs in the home half of the frame as Mitch Waters singled in Lewis, and Bettinger hit a broken-bat double down the first base line to score Waters.
Napoleon’s Alex Gerken tied the game with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the fourth inning off Portland reliever Jimmy West.
“They all competed,” Miller said of his four-man pitching staff. “They didn’t get down when things went bad. They had three or four swinging bunts we just did not handle.
“That’s baseball. We pitched in traffic, we pitched in duress and we got people out when we had to.”
Thobe, who gave up one earned run on four hits, struck out three and walked one in three innings, got himself out of a bit of a jam early. In the top of the second he faced bases loaded with one out but fanned the side to end the threat.
West allowed two baserunners in the fifth but and didn’t allow the River Bandits to break the tie.
With Lewis on the mound one inning later, he gave up consecutive doubles but left both runners in scoring position.
Lewis, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored at the plate, was credited with the win on the mound.
Portland escaped damage in the seventh inning too.
Napoleon loaded the bases with Krumlauf on the mound thanks to consecutive singles and an error. Krumlauf got Hunter Bostater on a called third strike, and Chris Gaines tracked down a Christian Petterson rope to deep left center field that ended up going down as an RBI sacrifice fly but might have been much worse for the home team had it hit the ground.
“It could have gone south,” Miller said. “If you’re expecting bad things to happen don’t hit it to center field because good things will happen. Chris Gaines will find a way.”
Regional schedule
When it was announced in April the Rockets received a bid to host a National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament, Portland was giddy for the opportunity to host teams from across the midwest.
Instead it will welcome a pair of teams from Ohio.
Portland, which is defending regional champions, will entertain the Cincinnati Chiefs to open the three-team regional at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the Chiefs will meet the Berea Blue Sox. The Rockets and Blue Sox will then square off at 6 p.m. the same day.
The two teams with the best record will advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
All Rights Reserved
At one point the Rockets had dropped three straight games at home.
They’ve since gotten their groove back.
Just in time to host a regional tournament.
Tristen Becker blooped an RBI single to kickstart a four-run sixth inning as the Portland Rockets pushed their winning streak to five games with a 7-4 victory Tuesday against the Napoleon River Bandits at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.
“Clutch. Dramatic. Exciting,” said Portland manager Randy Miller, whose team improves ends the regular season 14-10 and hosts the NABF regional on Friday. “Getting our mojo, getting key base hits back-to-back and that’s something we’ve been missing.”
Mitch Waters, a 2002 Jay County High School graduate, roped a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth inning, and Malave Bettinger walked. Cody Krumlauf loaded the bases with a single to right center ahead of Becker’s first hit of the game that scored Waters from third and put the Rockets out front 4-3.
A wild pitch on a strikeout plated Payton Heniser — Bettinger’s pinch runner — and yet another offering hit the backstop allowing Krumlauf to score.
Portland scored its final run of the game on a fielding error with runners at the corners.
“Hope our guys are finding some swag,” Miller said. “Seems like we were waiting for bad things to happen. We saw good things happen. That’s winning baseball.”
The Rockets opened the scoring their first time to the plate. Dustin Lewis led off with an infield single to short, moved to second on a walk and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice before scoring on a wild pitch.
Napoleon (30-20), which is made up of high school players and soon-to-be college players, tied the game as Landon Willeman hit an RBI double in the third inning off Portland starter Derek Thobe.
But Portland grabbed a 3-1 advantage with two runs in the home half of the frame as Mitch Waters singled in Lewis, and Bettinger hit a broken-bat double down the first base line to score Waters.
Napoleon’s Alex Gerken tied the game with a two-run home run to left field in the top of the fourth inning off Portland reliever Jimmy West.
“They all competed,” Miller said of his four-man pitching staff. “They didn’t get down when things went bad. They had three or four swinging bunts we just did not handle.
“That’s baseball. We pitched in traffic, we pitched in duress and we got people out when we had to.”
Thobe, who gave up one earned run on four hits, struck out three and walked one in three innings, got himself out of a bit of a jam early. In the top of the second he faced bases loaded with one out but fanned the side to end the threat.
West allowed two baserunners in the fifth but and didn’t allow the River Bandits to break the tie.
With Lewis on the mound one inning later, he gave up consecutive doubles but left both runners in scoring position.
Lewis, who was 2-for-3 with two runs scored at the plate, was credited with the win on the mound.
Portland escaped damage in the seventh inning too.
Napoleon loaded the bases with Krumlauf on the mound thanks to consecutive singles and an error. Krumlauf got Hunter Bostater on a called third strike, and Chris Gaines tracked down a Christian Petterson rope to deep left center field that ended up going down as an RBI sacrifice fly but might have been much worse for the home team had it hit the ground.
“It could have gone south,” Miller said. “If you’re expecting bad things to happen don’t hit it to center field because good things will happen. Chris Gaines will find a way.”
Regional schedule
When it was announced in April the Rockets received a bid to host a National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament, Portland was giddy for the opportunity to host teams from across the midwest.
Instead it will welcome a pair of teams from Ohio.
Portland, which is defending regional champions, will entertain the Cincinnati Chiefs to open the three-team regional at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the Chiefs will meet the Berea Blue Sox. The Rockets and Blue Sox will then square off at 6 p.m. the same day.
The two teams with the best record will advance to the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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