Quakes Survive Thursday, Force Game 3 Friday!

Rancho Cucamonga, CA – There will be baseball at LoanMart Field on Friday night, as the Quakes staved off elimination on Thursday, holding on for an exciting 4-3 victory over the Inland Empire 66ers.

Kelvin Ramirez came out of the bullpen with two outs in the ninth, inheriting a bases-loaded situation, eventually retiring Jeremy Arocho to end the game and even the best-of-three series at a win apiece.

Both starting pitchers were strong through the first several innings, as Chris Campos gave Rancho four scoreless innings, while Inland Empire’s Walbert Urena was equally sharp.

Urena’s defense let him down though, as a pair of errors allowed a pair of unearned runs to score. Jake Gelof reached on an error and scored on a wild pitch, while Jesus Galiz doubled and eventually scored on a throwing error that got away from the catcher, making it 2-0 after four.

Thayron Liranzo, who led the league with 24 homers in the regular season, swatted a 1-0 pitch over the right-field wall to open the sixth, making it 3-0 and eventually ending Urena’s (0-1) evening.

The Quakes got another in the sixth against Jared Southard, as Luis Rodriguez doubled home Joe Vetrano for a 4-0 lead.

Patrick Copen (1-0) tossed two perfect innings, before Joel Ibarra got through the seventh.

In the eighth, Inland took advantage of three straight walks to open the inning against Reynaldo Yean, making it 4-3. Livan Reinoso allowed all three inherited runs to score, but kept Rancho in front after eight.

In the ninth, Madison Jeffrey got the first two outs, before walking three straight batters. That prompted a move to Ramirez, who went 3-0 to Jeremy Arocho, before bouncing back to get him to ground out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

The win for the Quakes sets up a Friday night Game Three, with the winner advancing to the Cal League Championship Series. Roque Gutierrez (2-4) will take on Inland Empire’s Jorge Marcheco (7-5) at 6:30pm. Tickets for game three are on sale now at rcquakes.com. We hope to see you at LoanMart Field for Game Three....Go Quakes!