Tower Buzzers Erupt for Nine Runs in Ninth to Stun Quakes, 10-5
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers trailed by four runs heading into the ninth inning Sunday night, but what happened next stunned everyone at the ballpark. Ontario exploded for nine runs in the final frame, flipping the script and taking down the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 10-5. Through eight
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. — The Ontario Tower Buzzers trailed by four runs heading into the ninth inning Sunday night, but what happened next stunned everyone at the ballpark. Ontario exploded for nine runs in the final frame, flipping the script and taking down the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, 10-5.
Through eight innings, the Buzzers hadn’t done much, just five hits, a single run, and nothing to show for it with runners in scoring position. They were 0-for-8 in those spots. But once the Rancho bullpen showed up for the ninth, everything changed.
Javier Herrera started things off with a single. Conner O’Neal followed with a walk, then Abel Lorenzo ripped an RBI single. Suddenly, it was 5-2. After that, Joendry Vargas doubled home O’Neal to make it 5-3.
Easton Shelton then worked another walk to load the bases, bringing up Ching-Hsien Ko. Ko lined a two-run single into left, tying the game 5-5. Just like that, the Buzzers had new life.
And they weren’t done yet. Oswaldo Osorio drew a walk to reload the bases. Herrera, back up for his second at-bat of the inning, watched four pitches miss and reached on a bases-loaded walk, giving Ontario the lead for the first time, 6-5.
Then came the knockout punch. Caleb Johnson, after striking out earlier in the inning, stepped in again with the bases loaded. This time he hammered a grand slam to left field, his first home run of the year, sending the Ontario dugout into a frenzy and capping a ridiculous nine-run rally.
All told, Ontario sent 14 hitters to the plate in the ninth, going 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position after coming up empty their first eight chances.
Vargas had a nice night: two doubles, an RBI, a run scored. Ko finished with two hits and a walk, driving in two. O’Neal actually supplied Ontario’s only run before the ninth with a solo homer in the seventh. He wrapped up 2-for-4, with a double, a homer, a walk, and two runs.
On the mound, Ontario’s pitchers did their job. Cam Leiter started and gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits over three innings, striking out five. Rancho did some early damage stealing bases—five in total—and two Ontario throwing errors led to a pair of runs in the third.
The Quakes tacked on solo homers from Gabriel Davalillo and Anyelo Marquez, and by the seventh they led 5-1.
But Ontario’s bullpen didn’t let things get away. Jecsua Liborius was lights out, retiring all six batters he faced and striking out four in two perfect innings. He cruised through the eighth, and after Ontario’s monster rally, he struck out the side in the ninth to seal the win — and improved to 3-5 on the year.
The stats tell the story. Ontario finished with 10 runs, 10 hits, seven walks, while their pitchers limited the Quakes to five hits and racked up 15 strikeouts.
Down to their final three outs and trailing by four, the Tower Buzzers instead walked away with maybe their wildest win yet.
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Media Contacts:
Adam Serrano
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Diamond Baseball Holdings
Jeff Woolson
Play-by-Play Broadcaster