Report by the Armada’s Marcelo Figueroa

The Long Beach Armada used a 6-run 4th inning to defeat the Orange County Flyers 10-6 at Blair Field in the first game of a three game series. Long Beach is now 12-14 on the season.

The Fleet jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the 3rd inning started by singles from Andy Bouchie, Steve Young, Josh Womack and Omar Bramasco. Then in the 4th the Armada batted around the lineup, totaling six runs on six hits to take the early 9-0 lead.

Womack had a terrific evening at the top of the order for the Armada, going 3-for-5 with three RBI’s and two runs scored. Bramasco continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-5 with a couple of runs driven in. He is currently riding a 16-game hitting streak.

Orange County got on the board in the 5th inning with a couple back-to-back hits to make it 9-2. The Armada added one in the 5th thanks to an RBI double from Bramasco to take the 10-2 lead.

The Flyers would threaten late, scoring four runs in the 7th thanks to a couple of Armada errors and a two-run Fernando Pacheco homerun. Then in the top of the 9th inning closer Ryne Tacker walked back-to-back hitters and gave up a single to Pacheco to load the bases. Julian Benavidez scored from third on a fielder’s choice to make it 10-7 with two outs in the 9th. Tacker then walked Travis Becktel to load the bases with two outs.

Manager Gary Templeton brought in Justin Segal to secure the last out of the game as he collected his first save of the season by getting Jimmy Rohan to ground out to second to end the game at 10-7.

Lost in all the offense was the solid outing from starter Hideki Irabu, who moves to 3-0 on the season with the win. Irabu’s line for the night was 6.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 BB and 7 K.

Long Beach is now 2-5 on the season at Blair Field. Game two of the three game series will be Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm.