Report By Marcelo Figueroa
Although the Fleet fell short of the playoffs, it closed the regular season in fashion for all of the fans in attendance Monday night at Blair Field. The Armada used two runs in the 7th to take the lead and the eventual win for a four-game sweep of the Victoria Seals. With the win Long Beach finishes the second half 20-18 and the overall year 40-36.
Long Beach jumped out early on the Seals. Matt Edgecombe began the two-out rally with a base hit. J.J. Sherrill, who has been red hot since returning from injury, doubled to deep left center field to allow Edgecombe to come all the way around from first. At the end of an inning the Armada held a 1-0 lead.
Petie Montero led off the top of the 3rd with a single. Two outs later, Brett Flowers doubled to plate Montero tying the game at 1-1. Gabe Riley followed with a double of his own to bring Flowers home and give Victoria a 2-1 lead at the end of the third.
The game would stay 2-1 until the 5th inning. With one out Beal walked and hit a batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd for Brett Flowers. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Flowers hit a sac fly to push the lead to 3-1. The Armada struck back in the home half of the 5th when catcher David Ramirez led off with a base hit. An out later Brandon Howard singled and Jonny Kaplan hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Ramirez from 3rd. At the end of five innings, Long Beach trailed Victoria 3-2.
Long Beach would erase the Victoria lead in the bottom of the 7th. With two outs and runners on the corners, Edgecombe hit a 2-2 pitch back up the middle to bring in Womack from 3rd. Reliever Anthony Pluta then walked J.J. Sherrill to load the bases for Daryl Jones. Jones, who had previously struck out in his last five at-bats, was hit by a pitch to score Kaplan from third. The Fleet took a 4-3 lead into the 8th.
Dusty Gober and Chase Baran pitched three innings of scoreless baseball in relief of Beal before Kiochi Misawa came in and shut the door on the Seals to secure his 10th save of the year and the win. Long Beach finished the year on a high note, winning its final four games to close out the 2009 GBL season.