Tower Buzzers Pull Even With 6-1 Win Over Inland Empire
ONTARIO, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers bounced back in a big way Friday night, taking down the Inland Empire 66ers 6-1 at ONT Field. That evens up the six-game set, with each team now owning two wins. A night after giving up 12 runs and walking 11 batters, Ontario’s
ONTARIO, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers bounced back in a big way Friday night, taking down the Inland Empire 66ers 6-1 at ONT Field. That evens up the six-game set, with each team now owning two wins.
A night after giving up 12 runs and walking 11 batters, Ontario’s pitchers settled in and got the job done. They scattered 10 hits and five walks, but only let one run cross the plate. Inland Empire had chances all night, leaving 15 runners on base and going just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
Ontario struck right away. Easton Shelton smacked a triple with two outs in the first and then jogged home on Brendan Tunink’s RBI single.
Things got a little wild in the second. Caleb Johnson doubled, then pulled off a gutsy steal of home while Javier Herrera swiped second, and just like that, Ontario led 2-0.
Inland Empire scratched out their lone run in the third. Henry Ford lined an RBI single, but Ontario wasted no time responding. Ching-Hsien Ko stepped up in the bottom half and crushed his 18th homer of the season to right-center, stretching the lead back to two. Ko put together a solid night with two hits and he crossed the plate twice.
Marlon Nieves started for Ontario and pitched through traffic most of his night. He covered 3.1 innings, gave up a run on four hits, walked three, and punched out four on 89 pitches.
The biggest moments came right after Nieves left. Camden Wimbish came in with the bases loaded and just one out in the fourth. He wiggled free without any damage. Next inning, same story, Inland Empire loaded the bases with nobody out. Wimbish fanned Starlin Aguilar, then got Connor Dykstra to roll into a double play. That kept Ontario’s lead safe. Wimbish picked up his first win after 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
Ontario broke the game open in the fifth. Joendry Vargas and Ko both singled, Oswaldo Osorio drove in a run with a groundout, and Ko later scampered home on a balk. That made it 5-1. Vargas tacked on a sacrifice fly in the sixth, giving the Buzzers a comfortable cushion.
They finished with 11 hits. Ko, Tunink, and Abel Lorenzo each had two. Ontario was just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, but they found ways to score in five out of the first six frames.
The bullpen took care of the rest. Brady Pendley fired 2.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Jecsua Liborius closed it out, fanning three in 1.1 innings. Wimbish, Pendley, and Liborius combined for 5.2 shutout frames, striking out eight and giving up just six hits.
Solid defense made a difference, too. Ontario turned a pair of double plays to strand Inland Empire’s runners.
With the win, the Tower Buzzers have pulled even in the series, setting up a big weekend with two games left to decide who comes out on top.
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Media Contacts:
Adam Serrano
Regional Marketing Director
Diamond Baseball Holdings
Jeff Woolson
Play-by-Play Broadcaster