Tower Buzzers Outlast Quakes, Pull Away Late on Wednesday Night

Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. – The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (18-26, 54-56) could not overcome a series of strong Ontario Tower Buzzers (26-18, 59-51) pitching performances at Morongo Field on Wednesday, ultimately taking a 5-1 loss.

Through the first three innings, both starting pitchers looked sharp. While Luis Carias navigated around a handful of Quakes base runners, Trey Gregory-Alford kept his Ontario counterparts silent. The right-hander allowed just one hit in the early stages, striking out three as well to keep the contest scoreless.

However, the Tower Buzzers mounted a two-out rally to grab the lead in the top of the fourth. Base hits from Bryan Gonzalez and Abel Lorenzo resulted in runs, establishing a 2-0 edge.

Rancho Cucamonga, though, rallied in the bottom of the inning to immediately cut the deficit in half. Jeffery Heard and Marlon Quintero ripped back-to-back doubles, providing the Quakes with their first run. Quintero later advanced to third base on a balk before Lucas Ramirez drew a walk and stole a base, placing both the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position.

Nevertheless, Ontario found a way to work out of trouble. Two strikeouts and a caught stealing stifled Rancho Cucamonga's threat, keeping the visitors in front.

Pitching regained control of the game shortly thereafter as each team posted four consecutive shutout frames. After Gregory-Alford completed his five-inning start, Alton Davis chipped in two of his own before handing the ball over to Jakob Guardado, who kept the Tower Buzzers off the board in the eighth. In the meantime, Luis Gamez handled the workload for Ontario, maintaining a one-run edge heading into the team’s final turn at bat.

The visitors went on to add another big inning in the ninth, striking for three runs to put the game out of reach and cement the victory.

The Quakes look for a return to the win column against the Tower Buzzers on Thursday at 6:30 PM. LHP Derek Clark toes the rubber for Rancho Cucamonga opposite LHP Charlie West for Ontario. Morongo Field will play host to Thirsty Thursday, where fans can enjoy $2 Bud Light 12oz cans, $2 16oz Pepsi Products, and other specials on beers and seltzers.