Stockton 3B T.J. Schofield-Sam brought home the winning run with a sac fly in the top of the 10th at San Manuel Stadium as the Ports beat the Inland Empire 66ers 5-4 Thursday night. Sam had a pair of RBIs on the night and CF Junior Perez had two hits and an RBI to lead the offense.
RHP Oscar Tovar (W, 1-1) pitched the final two innings for Stockton to earn the win, allowing 0 runs, 0 hits, 1 walk and 4 Ks. RF Caleb Scires had two hits and a double for Inland Empire, as did SS Jose Guzman. RHP John Swanda was excellent in long relief, pitching the last six innings and allowing just the one unearned run (the runner was installed at 2B for extra innings). Swanda gave up 4 hits, 0 walks and struck out 5.
Stockton (19-26) has won six of its last 10. IE (20-24) is 3 games back in the South division.
FRESNO – 7
VISALIA – 1
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SS Ezequiel Tovar had 3 hits and 3 RBIs to lead Fresno’s 13-hit attack in a 7-1 win over Visalia at Valley Strong Ballpark Thursday night. Four Grizzlies batters had multi-hit nights as the visitors erased an early 1-0 deficit with four runs in the fifth inning and two in the sixth before adding on the final run in the seventh.
Four Fresno pitchers combined to allow 4 hits and 5 walks while striking out 9. Visalia’s lone run came on a double by DH Ramses Malave in the 3rd inning.
Tovar, the Colorado Rockies’ #19 prospect, has gone 10-for-34 over his last 7 games and is slashing .311/.352/.506 this season.
RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 8
SAN JOSE – 10
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San Jose scored 9 of its 10 runs in the last four innings, including 3 in the bottom of the 8th to win against visiting Rancho Cucamonga. RF Carter Williams had 3 hits and DH Jairo Pomares had two hits, including his 3rd homer of the year.
Lefty Kyle Harrison went 4 innings and allowed 3 runs (2ER) on 5 hits and 3 walks with 6 Ks.
The Quakes’ 3B Brandon Lewis hit his 10th homer of the season and 2B Eddys Leonard hit his 6th.
MODESTO – 1
LAKE ELSINORE – 6
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Five Lake Elsinore pitchers held Modesto to 1 run on 7 hits while striking out 11 against 5 walks. 3B Euribiel Angeles had 3 hits and C Brandon Valenzuela and RF Joshua Mears had 2 hits apiece.
The Storm (22-23) pulled to within a 1 1/2 games of Rancho Cucamonga for first place in the South division. Modesto (24-21) is 7 games back of San Jose in the North.
