Buzzers Walk Off Rawhide 6–4 Behind Late Heroics From Aroz

ONTARIO, Calif. – The Ontario Tower Buzzers pulled off another dramatic win Tuesday night at Ontario Stadium, coming from behind in the ninth to beat the Visalia Rawhide 6–4 on a walk-off homer from catcher Anson Aroz.

Visalia got things rolling fast off Ontario’s Brady Smith. JD Dix drew a leadoff walk, swiped second, and watched Kayson Cunningham crush a 2–2 pitch into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. Suddenly, it was 2–0 Rawhide after just two batters.

That was the only hit Brady Smith gave up all night. He shook off that rough start, settled in, and retired 10 of the next 11 he saw. Smith’s final line: four innings, two runs, one hit, three strikeouts, one walk on 58 pitches.

Visalia’s Mervin Fell matched him, keeping Ontario off balance through five scoreless innings before he handed things over in the sixth. Fell surrendered just three hits and fanned five, mixing in enough heaters to keep the Buzzers quiet.

Ontario’s first real chance came in the fifth. Easton Shelton doubled down the line, moved to third with one out, and then... nothing. Fell made his pitches, getting Tunink on a grounder and Aroz with a pop-up to keep the shutout going.

Everything changed in the sixth.

After Mairo Martinus worked a leadoff walk, Visalia called on Tayler Montiel from the pen. Kellon Lindsey bunted for a single, putting two on. Ching-Hsien Ko advanced both with a groundout, setting up third baseman Chase Harlan, who made the most of the moment. Harlan drilled a 1-0 pitch deep to right for a three-run shot, flipping the game from 2–0 Visalia to 3–2 Buzzers. That’s Harlan’s fifth bomb of the year, third in the last two games.

With the help on the baserunning side of things. Vidourek doubled, then took third on a wild pitch. Aroz drew a walk, and a second wild pitch let Vidourek sprint home for a 4–2 Ontario lead.

Meanwhile, Luis Carias took over on the mound and shut things down, retiring six of the first seven he faced and carrying the Buzzers into the ninth with a two-run cushion.

But then the Rawhide made it interesting.

With two away in the top of the ninth, Jose Alpuria walked to keep Visalia alive. Up stepped Pedro Blanco. On a 1-1 pitch, he launched a high fly down the right-field line to tie the game at 4–4.

The worry did not last long. Leading off the bottom of the ninth, Vidourek walked. After Tunink flied out, Aroz strode in and hammered a 2-1 pitch just inside the foul pole in right for a walk-off two-run homer that sent the Buzzers pouring out of the dugout.

Final tally: Ontario racked up six runs on eight hits. Harlan had three RBIs, Aroz finished it with his two-run blast, and Joendry Vargas chipped in two hits. Vidourek scored twice and sparked both of those late rallies.

Visalia only managed four hits, but two early and one late made things tense. Cunningham went 2-for-3 with the first-inning homer, and Blanco almost flipped the script with his blast in the ninth.

Carias got the win for Ontario, moving to 3–0 after four strong innings of relief with six strikeouts. Gregersen took the loss for Visalia after giving up the walk-off shot.

That’s three straight wins for Ontario as they keep building momentum in the CAL South standings, with the rest of the series still to come. Game two May 27th at 6:35.