The New England Lobster Rolls fell on Friday night to the Vermont Creemees (Lake Monsters) 7-1 at Centennial Field. Norwich’s defeat is their second in a row to Vermont and drops the Sea Unicorns to 30-18 through 48 ballgames.
There was no scoring in the ballgame until the home 3rd, when the Vermont Creemees exploded for 5 runs. Teo Spadaccini began the frame issuing a leadoff walk to Tommy Googins, who later swiped second base to advance into scoring position. Spadaccini responded with a strikeout for his 1st out of the inning. Jackson Sirois followed with an infield single to give Vermont runners at the corners. Manager, Kevin Murphy elected to make a call to the bullpen for reliever Luke Cardman with one out and a pair on. Sam Cavossa delivered for the host, slicing a base hit into right field to drive home the 1st run of the night. Later in the frame, an error committed by the Lobster Rolls first baseman loaded the bases, and a passed ball extended the lead to 2 for the Creemees. Vermont broke the game open with a 2-run scoring single into center field by Joey Gale to take a 4-0 lead. A fielder’s choice groundout brought home the final run of a 5-run 3rd inning for the Creemees.
Vermont added a run in the 5th and the 7th to increase their lead to 7. In the 5th, Sam Cavossa began the frame punching a single to right for his 2nd hit of the night. A wild pitch moved the Vermont left fielder into scoring position. Mark Quatrani helped Cavossa travel another 90 feet with a fly ball to the warning track and the second wild pitch of the inning allowed Vermont to bring their runner home from 3rd.
The Creemees utilized some more small ball in the 7th to strike for their 7th run of the ballgame. Jack Sirois sparked the Vermont offense, commencing the home 7th with a leadoff knock. A pair of productive outs advanced Sirois to 3rd and a wild pitch from Mac Meara made it 7-0.
New England tallied their lone run of the night in the 9th inning with a pair of outs. Trey Porter recorded just the 3rd hit of the contest for the Lobster Rolls with one away. Porter later advanced into scoring position after stealing 2nd and found his way to 3rd on a comebacker to the mound by Soldra. A two out, 2 strike wild pitch ended the shutout bid by Vermont and gave the visitors their lone run of the night.
Wyatt Cameron earned the victory for Vermont tossing 6 shutout innings and surrendered just 2 hits. The Central Connecticut product struck out 4 leading to his 3rd victory of the summer.
These same two teams will meet again tonight at Dodd Stadium as the Food Fight series comes to Norwich. The Lobster Rolls will try to break their 2-game skid as they send Hector Alejandro (4-0, 2.30 ERA) to the rubber after tossing just the 2nd no-hitter in Futures League history last Saturday. The UCONN product will be opposed by Eddie Kaftan (2-0, 2.10 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST.