Bravehearts Slow Down Sea Unicorns Roll in Month of July

Norwich, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns were defeated 8-3 on Sunday afternoon by the top seeded Worcester Bravehearts. Norwich’s defeat drops the Sea Unicorns to 15-19 on the summer and 1.5 games back of 4th place New Britain.

Norwich opened the scoring in the 1st against Worcester starter Pat Clemmey to take an early 1-0 lead. Caden Fahy kickstarted the Norwich offense with a leadoff double down the left field line. Bryce Detwiler continued his hot stretch lining a single back up the middle to score Fahy and give Norwich the lead.

Despite the strong start from the Norwich offense, Bravehearts reliver David Siciliano shutdown the Norwich bats after entering the ballgame in the 2nd. The Shrewsbury, MA native tossed 5 scoreless innings and limited the Norwich offense to 3 hits while striking out 5 in the winning effort.

Worcester responded with a run in the 3rd to even the score at 1 apiece. Ryan LeClair jumpstarted the Bravehearts offense, cranking a one out double to the left center field power alley. Jamison Howland advanced LeClair to 3rd with a flyout to right field. A 2 out walk to Kaleb Woodward kept the inning alive, giving Worcester runners at the corners. Later, a botched pickoff attempt at first allowed LeClair to score and tie the game.

The Bravehearts took the lead in the 4th against Norwich reliever Cooper Maher. A leadoff infield single, followed by command troubles from Maher, loaded the bases for the visitors via a walk and a hit batsman. The Northeastern commit struck out the next batter before Norwich turned to Nick West out of the bullpen. West punched out the first hitter he faced but then hit LeClair to force in the go-ahead run. The right-hander limited the damage, retiring Howland to end the Worcester threat.

In the 5th, the visitors added some insurance, striking for a pair of runs to stretch their lead to 4-1. Casey Wensley brought home the first run of the frame on a sacrifice fly to center field to score Woodward, who doubled to begin the frame. Jackson Marshall kept the inning alive, crushing a 2 out double to the wall in left field, and later came around to score on a Jaylem Sepulveda base hit.

Kaleb Woodward extended the Bravehearts lead in the 6th, reaching on a 2 out single to score Wyatt Hoffman, who began the inning with a double to left.

Worcester broke the game open in the 7th, adding another 3, to build a commanding 8-1 advantage.  A series of defensive miscues by Norwich gifted the Bravehearts their sixth run, a successful double steal added another, and Ryan LeClair capped the rally with his second double of the ballgame.

Norwich scratched across a run in both the 8th and 9th innings, but that was as close as they would get. In the 8th, Ryan Thompson drew a leadoff walk and advanced to third on a one-out single from Bryce Detwiler. Jack Byrne brought home Thompson with a sacrifice fly to right field. The Sea Unicorns mounted one final push in the 9th, loading the bases with nobody out against Worcester reliever Paul McCarthy. Cal Chance drove in a run with a groundout to second, but McCarthy quickly bounced back, retiring the next two batters to end the game with minimal damage.

Win – David Siciliano (2-1)

Loss – Cooper Maher (0-3)

Time – 2:54

Norwich is back in action Tuesday night against the Nashua Silver Knights. Landon Manzi (0-1) will take the baseball for Norwich opposite Tommy Flaherty (0-2). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Holman Stadium.

Written by Adam Plager