Tower Buzzers Fall 12-5 to Inland Empire as 66ers Capitalize on Free Passes

ONTARIO, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers just couldn’t slow down Inland Empire’s offense Thursday night. Eleven walks and a couple of rough innings opened the door for the 66ers, who pulled away for a 12-5 win at ONT Field.

For a moment, Ontario led 2-1 in the second, but Inland Empire blew things open with five runs in the third, then tacked on four more in the sixth. The 66ers ended up scoring 12 on 10 hits and went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Jack O’Connor got the start for Ontario and lasted 2.2 innings. He gave up three runs on two hits, walked four, struck out one, and took the loss, dropping to 0-3. O’Connor actually managed to avoid big hits early on, but all those walks caught up to him.

After O’Connor left, Ontario’s bullpen couldn’t clean up the mess. Javier Bartolozzi faced five hitters and didn’t get anyone out, surrendering three runs on three hits and two walks. Just like that, the Buzzers were down 6-2.

Ontario tried to fight back. The Buzzers scored twice in the fourth, taking advantage of three Inland Empire errors. Javier Herrera knocked in Ching-Hsien Ko with a groundout, then Bryan Gonzalez Garcia added an RBI single to score Caleb Johnson.

Gonzalez did most of the heavy lifting at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and four RBI. His two-run double had put Ontario ahead in the second, and he later added a sac fly in the ninth. Johnson finished 2-for-4, scored twice, and nabbed a stolen base. Brendan Tunink walked twice and crossed the plate both times.

But Inland Empire just wouldn’t go away. The 66ers put the game out of reach with four runs in the sixth. Starlin Aguilar hit a solo homer to start things off, then the 66ers took advantage of two walks, an RBI single from Ace Reese, a sacrifice fly, and a throwing error to push the lead to 10-4.

Aguilar ended the night with three hits and two RBI. Jake Brown and Connor Dykstra each drove in three. Inland Empire kept finding ways to score, while Ontario struggled, going just 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Jack Bowery picked up the win for Inland Empire, giving up four runs (two earned) over six innings, striking out four and walking one.

Ontario didn’t manage a hit from the fifth through the eighth. Herrera singled in the ninth, and Gonzalez Garcia drove in his fourth run of the night.

Now Inland Empire leads the six-game series 2-1, with three games left at ONT Field.

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Media Contacts:

Adam Serrano

Regional Marketing Director

Diamond Baseball Holdings

[email protected]

Jeff Woolson

Play-by-Play Broadcaster

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