A strong north wind began to whip through Rudder's baseball complex just before the Rangers played Manor on Thursday. It brought a chill to the opening night of the Rudder Ranger Baseball Bash but did nothing to cool off the home team's hitters.

The Rangers banged out 14 hits and rolled to a 17-2 victory over the Mustangs in a game shortened to three innings because of the run rule.

Rudder scored seven runs in each of the first two innings, overwhelming a Manor team coming off a 5-4 victory over Troy in the tournament's late-afternoon game.

"We're seeing the ball real big," first-year Rudder coach James Ward said. "The kids have bought into a philosophy about looking at the baseball and hitting their pitch instead of just going up there and swinging at the first pitch. We came out and hit the ball the way we're supposed to."

The Rangers (11-1) virtually assured themselves a berth against New Waverly in the tournament championship game. Troy could force a three-way tie atop its pool by beating Rudder on Saturday morning, but the first tiebreaker is runners to third base. The Rangers got 19 that far against the Mustangs.

Manor is a Class 4A team that will be in the same district as Rudder when the Rangers move up a classification in the fall. The Mustangs dropped to 3-7 overall.

Other than comfort-robbing wind, not much went wrong for Rudder against Manor. Two errors on one play gave away an unearned run in the top of the first inning, but the Rudder hitters pounded that run into insignificance quickly.

The first six Rangers batters reached base and scored. Blake Kopetsky belted a two-run homer to right field that was not aided by the wind. Kyle Danford and Will Johnson followed by back-to-back doubles. Tyler Matcek delivered a two-run single before leadoff man Matt Fritsche drilled a triple for his second hit of the frame.

Rudder sent 11 men to the plate and hit for the cycle in the first inning, collecting at least one single, double, triple and home run. By the end of the second, each Rangers starter had at least one hit, and seven had driven in runs.

Kopetsky hit a two-run triple in the third and finished with five runs batted in. The Rangers also got two hits apiece from Fritsche, Danford, Johnson and No. 8 batter Matcek, who went 2 for 2 and knocked in three runs.

The early offense made Kopetsky's night as starting pitcher short and easy. The sophomore lefty (3-0) allowed two hits while striking out four with no walks.

Rudder will return to District 24-3A play with a game at Rockdale on Friday night. The Rangers will face Troy in the last pool-play game of the tournament at 10 a.m. Saturday.

The championship game of the Bash is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday.

Rudder 17, Manor 2, 3 innings

Manor 101 -- 2 2 3

Rudder 773 -- 17 14 2

Blake Kopetsky and Matt Smith. Jimmy Bueno, Rene Castro (2) and Alex Jones. W -- Kopetsky, 3-0. L -- Bueno. 2B -- Rudder: Kyle Danford 2, Will Johnson. 3B -- Rudder: Matt Fritsche, Kopetsky. HR -- Rudder: Kopetsky. Time -- 1:10. Note -- two outs when winning run scored. Next -- Rudder will play at Rockdale on Friday.

Rudder Ranger Baseball Bash scores: New Waverly 5, Navasota 1; New Waverly 15, Leon 2; Navasota 8, Leon 3; Manor 5, Troy 4; Rudder 17, Manor 2.