Stockton sneaks past Ontario in a back-and-forth series opener, 5-4
STOCKTON, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers fought from behind all night, but in the end, it was Drew Burress who made the difference. His triple in the eighth helped the Stockton Ports edge Ontario, 5-4, on Tuesday at Banner Island Ballpark. Ontario actually outhit Stockton, 9-6, and got a
STOCKTON, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers fought from behind all night, but in the end, it was Drew Burress who made the difference. His triple in the eighth helped the Stockton Ports edge Ontario, 5-4, on Tuesday at Banner Island Ballpark.
Ontario actually outhit Stockton, 9-6, and got a pair of homers from Aidan West and Ching-Hsien Ko. Still, they stranded too many runners, going just 2-for-8 with men in scoring position.
For three innings, neither team budged. Ontario finally broke through in the fourth when Francisco Espinoza and Brendan Tunink singled, and Conner O’Neal drove in Espinoza with an RBI single to open the scoring.
Stockton answered right away, getting two runs in the bottom of the fourth where a Drew Burress solo homer got things started. Ontario didn’t stay down for long. In the fifth, West launched his first homer in an Ontario uniform, knotting the game at two. Stockton responded again, this time with a two-run frame to retake the lead, 4-2.
In the sixth, Ontario erased the deficit once more. Ko smashed his 19th homer of the year to pull Ontario within a run. Espinoza walked, reached third, and came home on Javier Herrera’s sacrifice fly to tie things up at four.
Then came the eighth. Burress led off with a triple off Mason Estrada and scored seconds later on Gavin Turley’s sac fly to give Stockton the lead for good. Burress ended up going 2-for-3 with a homer, a triple, a walk, two runs, and an RBI; he was everywhere.
Ontario made some noise in the ninth. Herrera walked and stole second, then Abel Lorenzo singled to left. Herrera tried to score on the play, but Max Durrington threw him out at home. That was Ontario’s last shot; Kade Brown got the final out for his seventh save.
Charlie West made his fourth pro start for Ontario and gave up two runs on two hits in 3.2 innings, with two walks and four punchouts on 60 pitches. Camden Wimbish followed, allowing two runs in 1.1 innings. Estrada turned in three good frames out of the bullpen with just one hit, no walks, and four strikeouts, but Burress’ triple in the eighth tagged him with the loss, dropping him to 2-6.
Every Ontario hitter had at least one hit. Lindsey reached three times on a single and two walks.
The series picks up again Wednesday night at Banner Island Ballpark.
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