Josh Womack has made a name on the youtube circuit for his trick swings. Last night, he employed a more conventional swing for a walk off double off the wall against Emiliano Fruto, the losing pitcher in a 3-2 contest against the Yuma Scorpions. Womack’s double lifted the Armada to an even .500 at 16-16, and gave the fireworks show following the game a little more special for fans of the crew.
Full Report By Marcelo Figueroa
With two outs in the top of the 1st inning, Scott Lonergan walked Carlos Arroyo. Arroyo then stole second and would score after cleanup hitter Carlos Villalobos doubled to left center. The Scorpions struck first Friday night and took the 1-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for the Fleet to respond. In the bottom of the 2nd Daryl Jones doubled to deep left center field with one out. Then with two outs Brandon Howard singled to second base, and after a bobble from second baseman Ismael Castro Jones decided to be aggressive and rounded third. It was a close play at home but Jones kicked the ball out of Jose Mosquera’s glove to tie the game up at 1-1.
Yuma was back at it again in the 4th. Arroyo singled to start off the inning for the Scorpions. Ismael Castro also singled and Carlos Pupo delivered a hot shot to third base to allow Arroyo to come in to score his second run of the game and make it Yuma 2, Long Beach 1.
But in the bottom of the 4th the Armada would respond. Jonny Kaplan started things off with a walk. Then with one out Andy Bouchie hit a hot shot that went off the glove of first baseman Carlos Pupo for a base hit. With runners on first and second, Josh Womack came to the plate with two outs. A wild pitch allowed both runners to advance and a balk from starter Carlos Ladeuth brought in Kaplan to tie the game at 2-2.
It would stay 2-2 through six innings of play. Both Lonergan and Yuma starter Carlos Ladeuth pitched well. Through six Lonergan collected 5 Ks to Ladeuth’s 7 Ks. All 12 strikeouts were of the swinging variety.
Carlos Ladeuth was done after six for Yuma with a line of 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 7 Ks with 5 walks. Scott Lonergan’s night came to an end with a line of 7 IP, 2 ER and 5 Ks to just one walk allowed. The game remained a pitcher’s duel through eight, as both teams put runners on base but couldn’t bring them in. It was 2-2 heading into the 9th.
Nine innings wasn’t enough to decide a winner and the game would stay tied 2-2 heading into the 10th.
Justin Segal pitched terrifically in relief and got a 1-2-3 top of the 10th. Then in the bottom half of the 10th Omar Bramasco got his second hit of the night, extending his hitting streak to a team best 22 games. J.J. Sherrill successfully laid down a sac bunt, putting Bramasco in scoring position with only one out. Relief pitched Cristian Mendoza then intentionally walked Matt Edgecombe to face Napoleon Calzado. Now there were runners on first and second with just one out. Calzado hit a slow grounder that would advance both Bramasco and Edgecombe. The winning run was now only 90 feet away with two outs. But Kaplan grounded back to the pitcher to end the chance at claiming victory in 10 innings. The game would now go at least 11 innings to decide a winner.
Koichi Misawa pitched a solid inning of relief in the top of the 11th to give the Fleet another opportunity to win the game. With one out Bouchie singled up the middle and Howard walked to put runners on first and second with just one out for leadoff man Josh Womack. And did Womack ever come through. He drilled a shot off the right field wall to bring in Bouchie to give the Fleet the 3-2 win. The Fleet took 3 of 4 from the Scorpions in the series and improve to 16-16 on the year.
The team will travel to Tucson for a 3-game series against the Toros before returning to Blair Field on Tuesday night. First pitch on the 4th of July is scheduled for 7:05pm.