Newcomb Dominates Early, Bullpen Perfect in Win
Bakersfield, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers downed the Bakersfield Blaze 9-6 at Historic Sam Lynn Ballpark as the Sixers pitching staff struck out 16 batters and the offense had a seven-run seventh inning to grab the victory. The win leveled the 66ers season at 32-32.
Both starters cruised early and Sean Newcomb nearly made history for Inland Empire. The southpaw out of University of Hartford (CT) struck out Nelson Ward to start the bottom of the first; that was followed by Rayder Ascanio reaching on an error. Newcomb then fanned the next two men for three K's in the frame. He then struck out the side in the second and the third inning. He fanned the leadoff man in the fourth to give him nine consecutive K's. Blaze 3B Tim Lopes then singled for Bakersfield's first hit and left Newcomb one strikeout shy of the Cal League record of ten consecutive batters retired via strikeout. The inning went south as the five ensuing batters after Lopes reached base, five men scored in the frame.
Tyler Pike pitched well for the Blaze. The southpaw allowed just two unearned runs on four hits with five K's and one walk in six innings. He earned a no decision. The 66ers went to work the Bakersfield (25-40) bullpen after that.
Kyle Schepel (0-1) entered the game in the top of the seventh and faced five batters recording no outs in his Blaze debut. The Sixers matched a season-high with seven runs in the inning getting RBI singles from Quinten Davis, Pedro Ruiz, Kody Eaves plus a sac fly from Ruben Sosa and a two-run double from Eric Aguilera en route to a 9-6 lead. Aguilera had his seventh three-hit game of the year and 20th multi-hit effort.
From there the bullpen took over. Righty Alex Blackford tossed perfect sixth and seventh inning with pair of strikeouts. Ronnie Muck took over in the eight and was perfect as well as he fanned three over two frames to earn his first save. Blackford earned the win to improve to 1-2.
The series concludes on Wednesday at 7:50 pm. It can be heard live at 66ers.com.
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