Inland Empire Drops Visalia 7-3, Earns Fifth Consecutive Win

San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino used a pair of big innings and strong mound-work from a pair of southpaws to drop Visalia 7-4 at San Manuel Stadium on Friday. The victory was Inland Empire’s season-best fifth and sent the Rawhide further down the spiral of a losing streak that has extended to 12 games.

The Rawhide (13-45) took a 1-0 lead in the first Danny Oriente singled and eventually scored on Neyfy Castillo’s RBI single to center. That was the lone run allowed by Inland Empire starter Adam Seminaris as the southpaw proceed to toss five shutout frames to follow. Seminaris (2-3) went a career-best 6.0 IP giving up the one run on six hits with one walk and matched a career-record with 9Ks. He has struck out 18 and walked two over his last two outings spanning 11.0IP. The 66ers got to Rawhide starter Austin Pope (0-8) in the third when Jose Guzman walked and Carlos Reina doubled him to third. Inland Empire tied the game when Guzman scored on D’Shawn Knowles RBI fielder’s choice. Later in the frame Braxton Martinez delivered a sac fly making it 2-1. Jose Reyes capped a four-run frame with a two-run triple, his first three-bagger of the year, to right center. Inland Empire had a big-inning encore in the fourth when Reina delivered his second double of the night knocking home two runs and Caleb Scires knocked him home with a RBI single and a 7-1 advantage. Lefty Jack Dashwood (SV, 3) tossed a perfect seventh and eighth out in relief of Seminaris. The Rawhide did push a couple of runs across in the ninth after a pair of infield singles, a RBI double by Alexander Hernandez and RBI ground out by Lyle Lin but Dashwood struck out Dairon Cuevas to put it on ice. The 66ers improved to 29-28 on the season, the first time they have been above .500 since May 16th.

The series continues Saturday at 7:05 pm. The contest can be seen and heard live on 66ers.com.