For the second straight night the Calgary Vipers
squandered a late lead in losing 5-4 to the Long
Beach Armada at Blair Field in Long Beach,
California. The Snakes led 4-3 heading into the
bottom of the eighth but for the third straight
game Long Beach walked off with the victory and
a sweep of the three game series. The defence
fell apart for the Snakes as they committed five
errors including three costly ones in the late
innings leading to the final three runs. With
the loss Calgary dropped 11 of 15 games this
season to the Armada and fell to 14-15 on the
second half of the season.
Darryl Brinkley gave Calgary the early lead with
a solo homerun, his seventh of the season, in
the top of the first inning for the 1-0
advantage.
The Vipers added
to the lead in the second inning with a Patrick
Arlis double and run batted in singles from both
Nelson Castro and Colin Moro for the 3-0 score.
Those two runs
were matched in the bottom of the frame as Long
Beach's Ryan Lehr and Brett Flowers doubled
for one run and after a Octavio Martinez single,
Michael Glomb cut the lead to one run at 3-2
with a RBI fielder's choice.
Arlis and Castro connected for back-to-back
doubles in the top of the fourth inning to put
the Snakes back up by two runs at 4-2.
Once again the
Armada cut the lead down to one run in the
bottom of the frame as Martinez reached on a two
base error by shortstop Castro and Dan Trumble
knocked him home with a base hit for the 4-3
score.
Long Beach tied
the game in the bottom of the eighth inning when
Martinez singled, reached second on an error by
right fielder Brinkley, and scored on another
Trumble RBI base knock for the 4-4 game.
In the bottom of the ninth inning Steve Moss
singled, after a dropped foul pop up by catcher
Arlis Norm Hutchins also singled to put runners
at the corners and Lehr provided the game
winning base hit for the 5-4 final.
Jon Huizinga and Sean Kramer were both excellent
out of the bullpen throwing three and two
scoreless innings respectably.
Manager Mike Busch and Brinkley were both
ejected from the game in the middle of the ninth
inning.
The Snakes finish off this road trip against
the Orange County Flyers Friday August 15th
at 8:05 PM (MDT) with Evan Greusel (8-2)
toeing the rubber. Saturday August 16th the
two teams will play a double-header starting
at 6:05 PM (MDT) to conclude the series.
Calgary returns home Monday August 18th at
7:05 PM (MDT) to open up a nine game home
stand against Hall of Famer Gary Carter and
his first half South Division Champion
Orange County Flyers.
Tickets can be ordered by calling 277-BALL
(2255). All games can be heard live online
at
www.calgaryvipers.com.
