Saturday showdown

FORT WAYNE — The team’s third world series berth comes down to this afternoon.

The Portland Rockets rode an early lead to a 5-2 victory against the Fort Wayne Blues on Friday night in the second round of the National Amateur Baseball Federation regional tournament at Carrington Field.

With a 2-0 record in the four-team, round-robin tournament, a Portland win against the Fort Wayne Jackers in their game at 2:30 p.m. today would clinch the regional championship and the team’s first world series berth since 2017. It would be just third world series berth in the team’s 50-plus year history.

The Jackers played the South Bend Royals later Friday night. Regardless of the outcome of that game, however, the winner between the Rockets and Jackers becomes the regional champion. (If both teams are 2-1, tie-breaking criteria comes down to head-to-head record.)

Playing as the visiting team once again, Portland (9-20) scored the only runs it needed in the top of the first inning.

Cameron Pratt led off with a double, and Jared Holley followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Following a strikeout, Peyton Smith hit a two-run double to center field to score Pratt and Holley. Two batters later, Smith scored on a fielding error by the Blues.

Fort Wayne, which had a 5-1 mark including four straight wins against Portland this season, broke the shutout in the home half of the fourth inning on a two-out single.

Smith, who shut down the Royals on the mound Thursday night, knocked in his third run of the night on a fifth-inning single as the Rockets led by three once again.

Smith finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a walk.

After the Blues cut the deficit once again in their next at bats, Portland put the game away as Holley led off the seventh inning with his second home run of the season. Holley led the Rockets with three hits and three runs. Pratt had a multi-hit game, while Caleb Richardson and Noah Collins each registered singles.

Jake Van Pelt (2-2) went the distance in recording the win. He scattered six hits over seven innings, allowing two earned runs. He struck out six and walked three.

Left-handed Portland veteran Tyler Reynolds (1-6) will take the rubber against the Jackers in the winner-take-all game.