Walk-off helps Rockets go 1-4 on weekend

FORT WAYNE and PORTLAND — Max Moser stopped the Rockets’ losing streak in game one Sunday.

But they ended the year with yet another loss.

The Portland Rockets managed to take just one game from the Fort Wayne Blues in a pair of weekend doubleheaders in the final games of the regular season.

Portland (7-20) lost 7-3 and 5-3 Saturday at Carrington Field in Fort Wayne before splitting Sunday’s contests with a 3-2, walk-off win and a 6-2 loss at Portland Memorial Park’s Runkle-Miller Field.

In game one Sunday, Moser, a 2018 Jay County High School graduate, hit a single off the outfield fence to score Jared Holley from second and give the Rockets, who had lost the previous five games, a 3-2 walk-off victory in the bottom of the seventh inning.

It came two innings after the Rockets took a 2-0 lead when Holley scored on a Moser error and then Keith Shepherd doubled to score Moser.

Fort Wayne answered with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning before Moser’s heroics a frame later.

Holley led the Rockets by going 3-for-4 with a triple and two runs scored. Shepherd finished with two hits, while Kasey Henderson and Caleb Richardson all had hits.

Tyler Reynolds earned the win. He allowed two earned runs on nine hits while striking out nine and walking two in pitching all seven innings.

In game two, however, Portland gave up an early lead and wasn’t able to come back for consecutive wins to end the regular season. The Blues led 2-1 after one inning before adding three runs in the fifth. The Rockets, trailing 6-1 in the final frame, managed just one more run.

Cameron Pratt and Holley had two hits each, with Griffin Garwood, Moser and Reynolds also adding hits. It was the first hit of the season for Reynolds, who normally only pitches.

Holley took the loss despite not giving up a hit. He allowed two unearned runs with three strikeouts and two walks in two innings.

On Saturday in Fort Wayne, Portland had a 1-0 lead at the end of the first inning but the Blues responded by tying the game in the second and scoring four times in the third. Portland trailed 5-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth before Fort Wayne added two more insurance runs.

Henderson, Holley and Shepherd each doubled in the loss, and Pratt had a team-best two hits. Nic Pequigot also singled in the setback.

Henderson was charged the loss, letting five runs — four earned — score on seven hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out four.

In the final game Saturday, Portland managed one more hit (nine to eight) than Fort Wayne, but the Blues’ five-run fifth was all it needed to complete the sweep.

Jake Van Pelt, Richardson and Holley all had two hits each, with Holly blasting a triple and Van Pelt hitting a double. Van Pelt took the loss, surrendering five earned runs on eight hits. He struck out three and walked four in five innings.

Portland begins National Amateur Baseball Federation regional play at 8 p.m. Thursday against the South Bend Royals at Carrington Field. It resumes pool play at 5:30 Friday against the Blues before meeting the Jackers at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.