Swanda and Dashwood Dazzle in Serie-Clinching Shutout of Lake Elsinore

San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino shutout the Lake Elsinore Storm 5-0 on Sunday to take a six-game series 4-2 and improve to the club’s high-water mark in 2021 at five games over .500 (38-33). The 66ers received brilliant pitching from John Swanda and Jack Dashwood who combined to stymie the Storm (32-40) for just six hits, no walks, nine Ks and secured the Sixer pitching staff’s fourth shutout of the season.

The 66ers got on the board in the first when Jeremy Arocho doubled and eventually scored on Jose Reyes’ two-out RBI single against Storm starter Noel Vela (1-7). Vela lasted two innings and was relieved by righty Dwayne Matos in the third; the Sixers scored against Matos in the third on a sac fly by Edwin Yon for a 2-0 advantage. Inland Empire added to its lead in the sixth when it got back-to-back RBI doubles from Jose Guzman and Caleb Scires for a 4-0 advantage. All the while, Swanda (3-5) was rolling. The righty from Des Moines, IA allowed just five hits over seven innings with no walks and struck out six batters. Swanda required just 76 pitches to complete his seven innings of work. The Sixers offense added an insurance run in the seventh when Arocho tagged his second double of the game and came home on D’Shawn Knowles’ RBI triple for a 5-0 lead. Dashwood came in the eighth and gave up a one-out double to Storm CF Robert Hassell III (the Storm’s only extra-base hit) but stranded him at second. The lefty out of UC Santa Barbara retired the next five batters he faced, three via the strikeout, to finish off the Storm. The contest marked the Sixers’ second straight game without allowing a walk (both victories) as the staff has gone 18 straight innings without a base on balls while striking out 17 in that span. Arocho finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and a walk while Scires was 2-for-4 with his double and RBI. The 66ers are five games over .500 for the first time since August 10th, 2013.

The 66ers open a series at San Jose on Tuesday at 6:30 pm. The contest can be heard live on 66ers.com.