On Thursday evening in Burlington, VT, the Norwich Sea Unicorns and Vermont Lake Monsters picked up Wednesday’s suspended game and then played Thursday’s regularly scheduled game. Each team picked up a victory on the day, leaving the Sea Unicorns holding onto their first place position in the Futures League standings.
When the first game started on Wednesday, the Sea Unicorns got off to a hot start as Kaiden Dossa led off the game with a double and advanced to third on a groundout by Trey Porter. AJ Soldra walked and then stole second to put runners at second and third. Cleanup hitter Shaun Callahan then stroked a home run to right field to give the Sea Unicorns a quick 3-0 lead. Vermont threatened in the bottom of the first when starter Tim Lewis allowed two straight one out walks and a single to load the bases.Lewis fought through it, striking out Owen McKiernan and inducing a groundout by Jack Rickheim to escape with no runs scoring.
The Sea Unicorns would strike again in the second inning as newcomer Aydan McNelly singled in his first Norwich at bat and moved to second on an Aidan Baglino walk. McNelly would move to third on a flyout by Anthony Tirado and then score on a sacrifice fly by Kaiden Dossa. The Sea Unicorns would continue to threaten but were unable to add any further runs.
The Sea Unicorns continued their hot offense to start the third as Shaun Callahan walked and would move to third on a single by Nick Tomasetto. Following a lake Monsters pitching change, Alex Irizarry would step to the plate and take a couple pitches before the rains came down, forcing the game to be suspended. When the game resumed on Thursday, Irizarry would walk to load the bases. McNelly singled to score Callahan and the Sea Unicorns were once again off and running. After baglino struck out for the first out of the inning, Tirado singled to score Tomasetto to make it 6-0. With 2 outs, Porter cam through with a two run single that scored Irizarry and Mcnelly. Vermont would threaten in the bottom of the third, placing runners on the corners with one out, but new pitcher Michael Belcher would escape the inning with zero runs scored, inducing a groundout that he handled himself and then striking out McKiernan to end the threat.
The Sea Unicorns offense would go quiet for the remainder of the game, but it did not matter. Vermont would score a run in the fourth inning against Belcher. A lead off single by Rickheim, followed by a one out single by Tommy Googins, a walk by Dante Pozzi to load the bases, and a sac fly by Tyler Favretto would get the lake Monsters on the board. Bryson Plante started the fifth inning on the mound for the Sea Unicorns. A lead off walk by Jackson Sirois, a single by Joey Gale, and a walk by McKiernan loaded the bases for Vermont. a wild pitch allowed Sirois to score and Rickheim followed with a double to score Gale and McKiernan, cutting the Sea Unicorns lead to 8-4. David Rodriguez would take over on the mound and steady the ship. Rodriguez struck out Jake Gaudreau and Googins before inducing a groundout by Pozzi to end the threat.
The Sea Unicorns and Lake Monsters played scoreless, uneventful baseball for the next three innings, with Rodriguez pitching three innings of one hit, no run baseball before giving way to Mike Poncini in the eighth. The Sea Unicorns would threaten but not score in the ninth, before Poncini would close the game out with his second 1, 2, 3 inning. Rodriguez earned the win while Luke Parise took the loss for Vermont.
In the nightcap, a game changed to 7 innings according to Futures League rules, Sea Unicorns starter Vincent Borghese and Lake Monsters starter Brody Shawn locked into an early pitcher’s duel. Through the first two innings, the game remained scoreless with little traffic on the base paths. In the top of the third, Norwich threatened with two runners and one out before Brody escaped the inning with another donut on the line score. The Lake Monsters would get to Borghese in the bottom of the third, scoring two runs on two hits and a Norwich error.
The Sea Unicorns cut into the Vermont lead in the fourth, as Antonio Ducatelli started the inning with a walk and jack Sweeney reached on an error. Chris Carson singled to score Ducatelli and Norwich looked to be in business. Shawn would settle down, however, striking out McNelly, then allowing a single by Owen Turner to load the bases, and then getting Tirado to strike out and Sturino to pop out to the third baseman in foul territory right at the wall to end the threat. This would prove pivotal as the Sea Unicorns began to unravel in the bottom of the fourth. A groundout and a walk to start the inning would end the night for Borghese and bring in Gio Conte. A sacrifice for out number two gave the Sea Unicorsn hope to get out of the inning unscathed, however, Wyatt Patchett singled to score a run, Favretto reached on an error to score another run, Sam Cavossa singled to score another run and two straight hit batters ended Conte’s outing. Tiernan Powers took over and hit another batter to force in the lake Monsters fourth run of the inning. When all was said and done in the fourth, the Lake Monsters led 6-2.
The bottom of the fifth saw the Lake Monsters add to their lead as Loe marini led off with a single and Jesse McCullough was hit by a pitch before Patchett fouled out and Favretto flew out. Just when it looked as though the Sea Unicorns would escape the jam, Cavossa was walked to load the bases and Mark Quatrani was hit by yet another pitch to force in a run.
After a quiet sixth inning, the Sea Unicorns were looking for a comeback in the seventh. a leadoff walk by Christian Stratis, a single by Ducatelli and a walk by Jack Sweeney loaded the bases and had Norwich feeling good about their chances. Chris Carson grounded out to score Stratis, a play Vermont would certainly take in that situation. With runners at second and third, MD Conner, making his first appearance since an injury at Worcester several weeks back, hit a sinking liner in the infield that was snared just before hitting the ground, allowing Vermont to double off the runner from second base to end the threat and the game.
Brody earned the win for Vermont, while Borghese took the loss for Norwich.
These two teams will meet once again this evening at Centennial Field in Vermont before both teams come to Dodd Stadium in Norwich this weekend. Tonight and Saturday’s games will feature each teams alter egos as Vermont becomes the Cremees and Norwich becomes the New England Lobster Rolls. Tonight’s Food Fight begins at 6:35pm.