Team Heat Stays Hot and wins Tourneynation.com Classic
6/18/2012

None of the pitchers who faced Ben Rortvedt Sunday in Evanston could get him out.

Rortvedt went a perfect 7-for-7 on the day and climaxed that perfect day with a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to spark Team Heat Baseball to a 9-8 victory over Illinois Hitmen in the championship game of the 14-and-under Tourneynation.com tournament,

The Wisconsin-based Team Heat fell behind 6-2 in the third inning, then prevailed in a battle of bullpens as Rortvedt delivered a bases-loaded single with one out in the seventh. The left-handed hitting Rortvedt was 4-for-4 in the title game and drove in five runs. He capitalized in his last at-bat after two Hitmen errors helped keep the inning alive for the winners.

Rortvedt also went 3-for-3 with three RBI in a 16-2 slaughter rule win over Lincoln-Way Pressure in the semifinals.

 

The Hitmen bunched five hits in a six-run third, including RBI singles by Kolton Rominski, Michael Kruse, Matt Kielbasa and Brendan Heiss, but only mustered two hits and two unearned runs after that against Team Heat relief pitchers Coby Oswalt and Jack Drake.

The Hitmen still held an 8-5 advantage in the seventh. But reliever Austin Butts yielded a leadoff single to Griffin Nicksic, hit Rocky Cates with a pitch, and two infield errors helped recycle the batting order around to cleanup hitter Rortvedt

With the infield pulled in, he grounded a single through the right side to chase home teammates Cates and Dylan Ott.

 

The Illinois Hitmen advanced to the finals by routing the Predators 13-2 in their semifinal contest.