San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got seven innings of shutout baseball from starter Jaime Barria and late inning heroics from Connor Justus and Cody Ramer in a 4-3 walk-off win over Lancaster. The win gave the Sixers (12-15) the series two-games-to-one; oddly enough all three
San Bernardino, CA- The Inland Empire 66ers of San Bernardino got seven innings of shutout baseball from starter Jaime Barria and late inning heroics from Connor Justus and Cody Ramer in a 4-3 walk-off win over Lancaster. The win gave the Sixers (12-15) the series two-games-to-one; oddly enough all three games were 4-3 decisions.
Barria was brilliant for Inland Empire as the 20-year-old kept the JetHawks (12-15) off-balance for seven frames. The Panama City, Panama native allowed just two hits, two walks and fanned four and left with a 1-0 lead on 80 pitches with 55 being strikes. The righty has now allowed just two earned runs over 23.2 IP at San Manuel Stadium in four starts. Colin Welmon was strong for Lancaster as the righty also went seven innings allowing four hits and two walks. He did not strike a batter out and allowed a lone run in the fifth inning. Justus opened the frame with a base hit, after a single by Brendon Sanger and a walk to Ramer loaded the bags, Zach Gibbons' lifted a sac fly to right for a 1-0 lead.
The JetHawks however bounced back in the late innings as Wilson Soriano bunted for a base-hit to open the eighth against IE reliever Conor Lillis-White (1-0). He eventually scored the tying run on Garrett Hampson's sac fly. Later in the frame Brendan Rodgers' RBI single gave Lancaster a 2-1 lead. In the ninth Hamlet Marte's RBI double gave the visitors a 3-1 lead.
Inland Empire would not go down easily however as Michael Barash coaxed a leadoff walk against reliever Alexander Guillen (0-4). After a strikeout, Cody Ramer launched a two-run game tying homer to left. Justus' first round-tripper made it 3-3. Sanger then singled, his second hit of the night and Jose Rojas' base-hit moved him to third base. Ramer then shot a game-winning single to left scoring Sanger and giving the Sixers their second consecutive win.
Sanger finished the series 8-for-11 for the Sixers; he entered the series with nine hits in his prior 20 games. Jared Foster extended his hitting streak to a season best ten-games with a double. In addition to the single and homer, Justus stole his third base of the year.
The Sixers open a series at Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday at 7:05 pm. The contest can be heard live at 66ers.com.
