LB 11, CHI 3: Trumble, Klemm each homer twice

After dropping three game road games and drifting to a .500 record, the Armada offense provided the wind that pushed the Fleet to victory. The outfielders combined for a big night, including four home runs (two each by RF Klemm and LF Trumble). Despite losing catcher David Parrish to the Rockies, the Armada refused to get caught at The Nett. Here's the game recap from last night.

CHICO, Calif. -– Former major leaguer Jerome Williams allowed just one earned run over seven innings while Dan Trumble and Chris Klemm each belted a pair of home runs to power the Long Beach Armada to an 11-3 victory over the Chico Outlaws Sunday at Nettleton Stadium to salvage the finale of a three-game weekend series.

Long Beach (6-5) dialed long distance early in the contest – Octavio Martinez singled to lead off the 2nd inning…then Trumble bombed a Jason Roach pitch over the left field wall to give the Armada a 2-0 lead. In the 4th Long Beach took advantage of a pair of Outlaws errors to score three times and up their advantage to 5-0 – Julian Williams delivered an RBI single and Cleatus Davidson knocked in a pair with a two-out double to left. Chico got on the board in the bottom of the 4th – Jose Valdez doubled and came home on a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Lino Garcia…later in the inning Casey Garrison singled home Todd Gossage to make the score 5-2.

That would be as close as the Outlaws (3-10) would get – Klemm led off the Long Beach 5th with a solo homer to make it 6-2…then in the 8th the Armada put the game away with two more home runs, one a solo shot by Trumble off reliever Derrick Landavazo…then with two outs and the bases loaded, Klemm blasted a grand slam off Todd Gelatka to push the score to 11-2. Chico strung together three hits to plate a run in the 8th off Long Beach reliever Sean Buller (Steve Boggs scoring on a Julian Benavidez single) to make it 11-3…but Nick Cavanaugh came in from the Armada bullpen to retire the Outlaws in order in the 9th to lock down the Long Beach victory.

Williams got the win to improve to 3-0 on the season…Roach took the loss to slip to 0-3. Julian Williams led a 17-hit Long Beach attack with a 4-for-5 performance; Davidson had three hits and Klemm finished the night with five RBI. The Outlaws had nine hits, with Valdez and Kevin McCarthy each going 2-for-4.

The Fleet is off Monday before a three game series in Reno kicks off on Tuesday (June 10-12). The Armada docks at Blair Field on June 13 for their home opener against the Yuma Scorpions.