66ers Take Series at Rancho with Late Offensive Explosion

Rancho Cucamonga, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino trailed 3-0 after four innings and 5-2 after five innings on Sunday at Loan Mart Field before blitzing the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for 11 unanswered runs in a 13-5 win. The victory secured a 4-2 series win for the 66ers and put both clubs in a dead heat for first place in Low-A West’s South Division at 34-31.

Imanol Vargas’ two run homer in the fourth gave the Quakes a 3-0 lead against Sixers’ starter John Swanda. Inland Empire punched through to in the fifth against Carlos Duran when Jeremy Arocho double and came home on D’Shawn Knowles’ RBI single. Knowles stole second (he is now 18-for-18) and came home on Jose Reyes’ RBI single making it 3-2. The Quakes bounced back immediately when Jonny Deluca drilled a two-run homer, his 14th, making it 5-2. Inland Empire then mounted its comeback; the Sixers trimmed the lead to 5-3 with a run in the sixth and then tied the game 5-5 in the seventh when Jeremy Arocho singled to open the frame, his third hit of the game. Jose Reyes tripled home Arocho and then scored the tying run on Jose Guzman’s double. Inland Empire broke through in the eighth against lefty Julian Smith (3-5) when Knowles drilled an RBI single to left making it 6-5. Edwin Yon then launched a three-run homer to right to boost the lead to 9-5. The homer was Yon’s eighth of the year and third in the series; he has driven in an incredible 15 runs in five days. The 66ers poured it on in the ninth when Caleb Scire smoked a liner out to right for a two-run homer, his seventh of the year and a 11-5 advantage. With one runner on, Arocho delivered a RBI single tallying his fourth hit of the game and his fifth time on base. Knowles then capped the scoring at 13-5 with a RBI double, his third hit of the game. Inland Empire set a season-best with 17 hits. Dakota Donovan (2-2) earned the win with 2.1 shutout innings.

The 66ers open a home series versus Lake Elsinore on Tuesday at 7:05 pm. The contest can be seen and heard live on 66ers.com.