Berea blasts way past Rockets

The Rockets limited damage from the Berea Blue Sox through the first two innings. They couldn’t do so again in the third, and an offensive onslaught followed.

The Blue Sox batted around in the third and sixth innings and hit three consecutive solo home runs in the fifth to rout the Rockets 19-3 in Sunday’s NABF Regional championship at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.

With the win, the Blue Sox advance to the NABF World Series Aug. 9 through 12 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

“We saved our pitching for today, but they saved their hitting for today,” said Portland manager Randy Miller, whose team finished the regional 1-2, falling to Berea both Saturday and Sunday. “We reached the World Series last year because we were that team. They reached the World Series this year because they’re that team.

“You have to have something special, and we tip our hat.”

Portland (15-12) gets another shot at earning a world series berth as it competes in the Fort Wayne regional this weekend. It won twice on the final day of the tournament last year to reach the world series.

Rockets pitcher Garrett Scott faced cleanup hitter Steve Ross with just a 2-1 deficit to begin Berea’s half of the third inning, and Ross roped the second pitch of the frame to the fence in center field for a leadoff double. In the blink of an eye, the Blue Sox (39-4) looked every bit like a team that had put up a total of 31 runs through two prior wins at the tournament.

Darius Washington, who had a perfect five hits in five plate appearances on the day, followed with a single to left field. Ross reached home on a ball that slipped past catcher Cody Krumlauf and into the backstop. Drew Mahler secured two RBIs courtesy of a single.

With Jon Nola and Bryan Miller fanning, Portland had the chance to escape the side with just moderate damage. Zeth Tanner made a backhanded grab at third base, stopped on a dime and tried to fire across the field for the final out at first. Instead, a low throw hopped away from the outstretched glove of Mitch Waters, allowing the Blue Sox to put two more runs on the board.

“Against a good team, you just can’t give them extra outs, balls can’t land in the outfield; just routine stuff you have to make plays against teams like that if you want to compete,” said Zach Tanner, who scored two of the Rockets’ three runs on the day.

Washington made his second plate appearance of the inning and drove in the final two runs of the frame with a double.

“It’s been impressive all weekend, their ability to drive the ball to all fields. … Not getting ahead of themselves, just letting the game come to them,” said Blue Sox manager Brendan Krowka, whose team didn’t lose a regional game. “This year, we’ve been much more well-rounded offensively.”

The Rockets were never within reach for the rest of the game.

After a scoreless fourth, the Blue Sox turned the fifth inning into their own home run derby.

Ross, Washington and Johnson hit back-to-back-to-back solo home runs over the fence at right field, left field and center field, respectively, pushing the lead to double digits.

“That’s just an aberration; I’ve never seen anything of the like,” Miller said. “It was pretty special. Again, we tip our hat.”

Waters, who had three of Portland’s six hits, helped earn a pair of runs back with an RBI single in the top of the sixth. He reached home after a sacrifice fly courtesy of Tristan Becker. That ended the scoring for the Rockets.

In the home half of the sixth, the Blue Sox slammed the door shut.

With five more hits and their second seven-run inning of the afternoon, Berea again batted around. Two singles, three doubles, three walks and a dropped fly ball in center field led to the end of the game via run rule.

At the end of the day, there was just one thing on Zach Tanner’s mind heading into the Fort Wayne regional.

“Bounce back. We’re the Portland Rockets. We always find adversity throughout the way,” he said. “… We’ve beat up on teams in the past, and today we got beat up, so bounce back, keep the confidence.”

The Rockets will play their first game Friday, hoping to make their third World Series appearance in their 59-year history and second in as many seasons.

“We’ll take our wares and see how they play out in Fort Wayne,” Miller said. “We’re the defending champ of that regional, and we’ll have a little swag.”