CalL1 Inland Empire 66ers

66ers Take Series Over I-10 Rivals

Published on July 26, 2011 under California League (CalL1)
Inland Empire 66ers News Release


Inland Empire is trying to prove it belongs in the playoff hunt and Monday's game helped solidify that case. The 66ers (47-54, 15-16) rode the arm of Ariel Pena to a 5-3 victory over the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (56-45, 18-13) in the rubber match of a three-game set at the Epicenter. Inland Empire has now won seven consecutive series and is in line for a wild card spot in the California League South.

Pena continued his recent dominance on the mound. The right-hander struck out seven over six innings of three-run baseball. Pena holds the California League lead in strikeouts with 133.

The 66ers escaped a jam in the eighth inning thanks to their defense and a base-running miscue by Rancho Cucamonga. In a no-out, bases-loaded jam with a run already across, Pena got Rafael Ynoa to fly out to Long in shallow right field. Angelo Songco tagged up and broke to third base, not realizing that Austin Gallagher had held up, and the Quakes had run themselves into an unconventional 9-2-4-1 double play. Pena induced a harmless ground ball to short for the third out of the inning.

Caleb Graham, John Wiedenbauer and Matt Oye helped preserve Pena's effort with three perfect innings of relief. Wiedenbauer has now retired all seven batters he has faced since his recall from the Arizona League on Saturday. Oye's perfect ninth gave him his fourth save of the season.

The top of the 66ers' order did most of the damage against Quakes starter Andres Santiago. Matt Long started the scoring for Inland Empire with an RBI base hit in the second inning, and Michael Wing followed with a two-run single. Dwayne Bailey added an RBI double in the third and Dillon Baird plated a fifth run with an RBI fielder's choice in the seventh.

Inland Empire will return home for a three game set with the High Desert Mavericks on Wednesday with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians pregame show set for 6:55 p.m on AM 1050 KCAA with Sam Farber. Manuel Flores (9-7, 5.48) will be on the mound for the 66ers.

For more information on 66ers tickets or to schedule your next fun filled group outing, contact the 66ers front office at (909) 888-9922.

Check out the Inland Empire 66ers Statistics

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California League Stories from July 26, 2011


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