Palm Bay score early and often
995 were in attendance as the Pompano Beach Stars (Valencia affiliate) came to town. It was to be as savage opening as Aviators came in with all guns blazing. The beach stars actually scored first in the top of the first on a wild pitch but were then hit by a tsunami of runs. Three hits and three walks in the bottom of the first gave Palm Bay a 4-1 lead as Aviators batted around, and it didn’t get any better. Aviators sent 10 to the plate in the second innings and got five of them to cross home plate, helped by Brian Best’s 3-run homer, Palm Bay’s first long ball of the new season. Two hits by Pompano did nothing in the top of the third, but an Ernesto Ramirez Grand Slam in the bottom half turned the Beach Star’s one time 1-0 lead into a 13-1 deficit.
And that as they say was that. Pompano had four hits including a 2-run homer off Bartolo Deleon in the top of the seventh that plated four runs in all, but that was the final runs as Palm Bay moved to 2-0 for 2042.
Chris Sackett took the win, pitching six innings, allowing six hits, one walk and one run while striking out 10 batters. Ernesto Ramirez’s final tally was 3-5 scoring three times and driving in 5 runs and Brian Best had two hits in four AB’s, scoring both times and collecting four RBI. Chris Jenkins had a hit & two walks and scored each time on base. The teams had 12 hits apiece.
