Report by the Armada’s Josh Feldman
The Long Beach Armada (1-1) held on to win its first game of the season, beating the Calgary Vipers 10-9 at Foothill Stadium on Friday.
The Armada held a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Relief pitcher Kiochi Misawa took the mound for Long Beach, and after trading two hits and two outs with the Vipers, Calgary catcher Rick Guarno blasted a 3-run homerun off the scoreboard in right field to bring the Vipers within one.
Long Beach started the scoring in a big first inning as the first four Armada hitters scored. Centerfielder Josh Womack led off the game with a double, and shortstop Omar Bramasco drove him in with a single. After left fielder Casey Garrison reached on an error, third baseman Chad Miller emptied the basepath with a towering shot to dead center field. His 3-run homerun put Long Beach up, 4-0, after just a half-inning. Miller finished the night 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored. Calgary responded with one run in the bottom of the inning.
After the Fleet tacked on two more runs in the second inning, the Vipers narrowed the gap with three runs in the bottom of the frame with an RBI double by centerfielder Fehlandt Lentini and a 2-RBI triple by second baseman Jorge Mejia.
The Vipers chipped away at the Armada, scoring in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Lentini and again in the sixth when Mejia drove in Colin Moro to pull the Snakes within one run, 7-6.
Long Beach added insurance in the eighth with second baseman Steve Young and Womack driving in runs, and Miller added his second run of the evening in the ninth, making it 10-6 at the time, scoring on rookie Matt Edgecombe’s RBI single that turned out to be the winning run.
Armada starter LHP Ben Fox did not factor into the decision, as he pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits while striking out 3 and walking 2. Reliever Juan Jimenez (1-0) picked up the win for Long Beach. Jimenez (1-0), Justin Segal, Ryne Tacker and Misawa all saw action from the mound tonight after Fox left the game.
Calgary’s Evan Greusel (0-1) took the loss. After getting beat up in the first inning, he continued pitching into the seventh, giving up 7 runs (6 earned), 10 hits, while striking out 2 and walking 1.
The Armada and Vipers play the third game of the season-opening four-game series Saturday at 4:05pm PT. RHP Scott Lonergan gets the start for the Armada against LHP Dallas Mahan. The game broadcast can be heard live through www.longbeacharmada.com with the pre-game show starting at 3:50pm PT.