Sea Unicorns Make History, Become First Team in League History to Three-Peat

New Britain, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns made history Saturday afternoon with a decisive 13-4 victory in Game 3, becoming the first team in Futures League history to three-peat.

Norwich entered the postseason as the No. 4 seed and stunned the top-seeded Worcester Bravehearts with a sweep, punctuated by a 14-inning thriller at Dodd Stadium to punch their ticket to the finals. The championship series lived up to the “Battle of Connecticut” name, as New Britain edged Norwich 1-0 in 10 innings in the opener before the Sea Unicorns rallied from a 4-2 deficit in Game 2, tying it in the ninth and walking it off in the 12th to force a decisive Game 3.

The Bees jumped out early in the finale, scoring twice in the first inning on a wild pitch and a groundout. They threatened again in the second after starter Cooper Maher exited with a runner on first. Reliever Sean Connolly allowed an infield single to put two on with no outs but then steadied himself by retiring the next three batters to escape the jam and keep it a 2-0 game.

Norwich answered in the third, rallying with two outs as Connor Scanlan worked a walk and Chace Chaplin followed with an RBI single to right. New Britain pushed the lead back to 4-1 in the fourth on a bases-clearing double by Cam Righi, setting the stage for another Sea Unicorns comeback.

The Sea Unicorns’ offense came to life in the fifth, erupting for four runs aided by a pair of defensive miscues from the Bees. With one out, an error allowed Connor Scanlan to reach, sparking yet another two-out rally for Norwich. Chace Chaplin roped a double to left field to score Scanlan, and Norwich pinch-ran Gabriel Rivera in his spot. The move paid off as Rivera scored on a Bryce Detwiler RBI single, cutting the deficit to one. A walk to Charlie Walsh ended the night for Ty Davis and the second error of the inning allowed Norwich to tie the game. Gavin O’Brien gave the Sea Unicorns the lead with a base hit to right field, scoring Walsh.

Norwich broke the game open in the 8th inning, exploding for eight runs on eight hits sending 12 batters to the plate. The inning began with 4 straight hits and an error before the Bees recorded an out. The 8-run frame tied the highest scoring inning in Futures League postseason history.

Despite a rocky start, the Norwich bullpen was sharp over the final 5 innings limiting New Britain to 7 hits and 9 total baserunners. Sean Connolly earned his first victory of the postseason tossing three innings of 2-run baseball.

Bryce Detwiler earned Postseason MVP honors after recording his second consecutive multi-hit game and finished the postseason with an impressive .381 average (8/21) over 5 games with 6 RBI and 5 runs scored.

Win – Sean Connolly (1-0)

Loss – Ty Davis (0-1)

Time – 3:12

Written by Adam Plager