Grady’s One-Hitter Not Enough in Sea Unicorns Shutout Game 1 Loss
New Britain, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns were shutout 1-0 Wednesday night, falling to the Bees in 10 innings. Last night’s defeat is the first loss for Norwich in the postseason and they trail the best of 3 championship series against their in-state foe 1-0.
Norwich starter Brendan Grady was dominant for Norwich, tossing 7 innings of one-hit baseball. Grady allowed just four baserunners all night while striking out 5, earning himself Futures League Pitcher of the Night honors for the second time this summer. The Trinity product carried a no-hitter through 6.2 innings until Easton Masse flipped a base hit into center field.
On the other side, Bees starter Ben Oliveira was equally impressive, tossing 6 innings of shutout baseball on two days rest. The right-hander limited the Norwich offense to five hits while striking out four.
Norwich threatened in each of the first 3 innings against Oliveir,a having a base runner reach third in each inning, but failed to convert on their opportunities. In the 2nd, Norwich had their best chance, stringing together back-to-back hits from Charlie Walsh and Gavin O’Brien. Clay Hartje followed by lifting a fly ball to center field allowing Walsh to tag from second and advance to third, giving Norwich runners at the corners. New Britain moved their infield defense in with a man out and a runner on third. A soft grounder to third and a fly out helped Oliveira escape the threat unscathed.
Sea Unicorns reliever Gio Conte tossed two scoreless innings to send the game to extras. Conte breezed through the 8th, however, ran into danger in the 9th, surrendering a leadoff double to Righi and elected to intentionally walk Crowley with the open base. Despite the traffic, the right-hander retired the next three batters he faced to end the Bees rally.
In the 10th, Norwich turned to Cam Thomas with the game still deadlocked 0-0. Unfortunately, the move was unsuccessful as the southpaw surrendered the lone run of the night. Jake Risedorf started the rally lining a base hit to right field. Thomas bounced back striking out Caleb Miller before Julius Rosado hammered a pinch double to the right center field alley just out of the reach of the Norwich center fielder. Brandon Gaer was due up next, but Norwich decided to intentionally walk him with first base open, bringing Cam Righi to the plate with the bases loaded. The UCONN commit delivered the final blow, wiring a base hit up the middle to score Risedorf and walkoff Norwich in Game 1.
The New Britain bullpen shined tossing 4 innings of no-hit baseball holding the Norwich offense to one baserunner.
Win – Jake Harmony (1-0)
Loss – Cam Thomas (0-1)
Time – 2:31
UPCOMING
Norwich is back at home Friday night for Game 2 of the Championship series. Norwich must win to stay alive to force a decisive Game 3 Saturday afternoon in New Britain. First pitch tomorrow night is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Dodd Stadium. Tickets for Game 2 are on sale now for $5.
Written by Adam Plager