LB 13, OC 4; LB leads series 2-1

Claypool grounds Flyers offense while Williams drives in 6

LB 130 006 300 - 13 10 0
OC 000 000 220 - 4 7 2

FULLERTON, Calif. – Julian Williams drove in six runs, three of them on his first home run of the season, as the Armada cruised to a 13-4 win at Goodwin Field on Friday night, taking a 2-1 series lead over the Flyers in the best-of-five division championship series.

Omar Bramasco’s solo home run in the top of the 1st inning kicked off an offensive display not seen by the Armada since mid-July. Williams crushed a three-run homerun off the scoreboard in left field to put Long Beach up 4-0 in the 2nd inning, giving starter Ryan Claypool plenty of slack to work with.

Claypool, however, would have been fine without it. Through the first six inning, the Armada starter shut out the Flyers, giving up only two hits and at one point retiring 10 straight batters. Claypool (1-0) finished the night giving up two runs on five hits, striking out four and walking one in seven innings pitched.

Despite Claypool getting the win, his OC counterpart Matt Durkin looked equally as sharp in a losing effort. Durkin (0-1) struck out eight batters through the first five innings before things began to rapidly unravel in the sixth.

Long Beach sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run 6th inning that put the game out of reach. After Steve Moss led off the inning with a walk, Ryan Lehr reached on a fielder’s choice. Three straight singles by Norm Hutchins, Ryan Brown and Octavio Martinez put Long Beach on top 6-0. Cleatus Davidson followed a Dan Trumble walk with a two-RBI single to right field. Williams and Bramasco finished the inning with two more RBI hits to put the Armada ahead 10-0.

Williams added two more RBI in the 7th inning and reliever Garrett Murdy and Sean Buller each pitched an inning of relief.

The 13-run total was the highest for Long Beach since a 15-11 win over the Flyers at Goodwin Field on July 19.

The Armada and Flyers will play Game 4 of this best-of-five series at Goodwin Field Saturday night at 7:05pm. The winner of the South Division series will open the GBL Championship Series on the road in Calgary on Tuesday after the Vipers completed a sweep of the Edmonton Cracker Cats on Friday.