Sea Unicorns Make it 3 in a Row After All-Star Break

Norwich, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns continued their winning ways on Friday night, picking up a crucial 4-2 victory over the Nashua Silver Knights.

Scoreless through the first four innings, Norwich broke through in the 5th against Nashua starter Scott Longo. Clay Hartje led off smashing a triple to the wall in left, but Longo bounced back with two quick outs to keep Hartje at third. With the inning hanging in the balance, Kenny Noe delivered a two-out double to left on a ball lost in the lights, allowing Hartje to score. After the misplayed fly, Nashua went to the bullpen for Sam Franco, but the move was unsuccessful as Charlie Walsh promptly punched an opposite-field single into left to extend the Norwich lead to 2.

Nashua battled back with a run in the 6th to cut the Norwich lead in half. James Benestad began the rally launching a leadoff double down the left field line. A passed ball allowed Benestad to take third and he later scored on a sacrifice fly to right.

Norwich responded immediately with a pair of runs in the 6th to stretch their lead to 3. Chace Chaplin worked a leadoff walk and quickly moved into scoring position swiping second. A wild pitch allowed Chaplin to take 3rd and he later scored on the second hit of the night from Hartje, pounding a base hit into right. The offense continued to surge as Connor Scanlan reached on an infield single, setting the table for Anthony Tirado, who delivered an opposite-field, run-scoring single to left to bring home Hartje and add insurance.

The Silver Knights battled back with a run in the 9th to make it a 2-run game on back-to-back hits against reliever Charles Ennis. Chase Roberts ignited the Nashua offense clobbering a leadoff triple and came around to score on a Brenden Walsh single to left. The defense picked up Ennis after a rocky start to the 9th as Sweeney made a sliding catch in left field to retire Patrick Shrake and turned a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to secure the victory.

Win – Cam Thomas (4-2)

Loss – Scott Longo (0-2)

Save – Charles Ennis (S, 1)

Time – 2:42

Norwich hits the road for a critical road meeting tonight in New Britain against the Bees. Matt Tabet (0-0) will make his 2nd start of the summer for Norwich opposite Brendan Murphy (0-5). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. from New Britain Stadium.