The Norwich Sea Unicorns got back into the win column posting a 9-1 victory over the New Britain Bees last night. Norwich’s victory improves them to 14-9 through 23 ballgames.
It was a fast start for the Sea Unicorns offense, striking for 3 runs in the 1st. Norwich took advantage of a pair of walks issued by the New Britain starter and an infield base hit to load the bases with just one out. Nick Tomasetto got the scoring started with a base hit to right to bring home Christian Stratis. Later in the inning, Izzaiah Walker brought home a pair with a single into right to extend the Sea Unicorns lead to 3.
Norwich continued to add on in the 2nd to take a 4-0 lead. The Sea Unicorns took advantage of a pair of errors committed by the Bees defense. Bo Yaworski began the inning drawing a lead off walk and quickly advanced into scoring position on a failed pick off attempt that sailed into foul territory. Anthony Tirado hit a high chopper to the first baseman and the Bees first baseman’s toss to the pitcher covering the first base bag did not connect and allowed Yaworski to come home and score.
New Britain cut the Norwich lead to 3 in the 3rd. The Bees put the pressure on Norwich starter Kaden Murphy, loading the bases with two outs. Murphy ran into some command trouble in the inning, hitting a batter and walking a pair to help the Bees get on the board. Despite allowing a run Murphy was able to battle his way out of the bases loaded jam with minimal damage.
The bullpen for Norwich was lights out the rest of the way allowing just 1 hit in the final 6 innings. Hector Alejandro (2-0) earned the victory for Norwich, firing 4 innings of shutout baseball and struck out two. Alejandro pounded the strike zone throwing 64% of his pitches for strikes in his relief appearance. Ethan Lewis sealed the deal for Norwich tossing 2 innings of no-hit baseball. The Yale product has now worked 8.1 innings without allowing an earned run.
The offense for Norwich continued to surge, adding a run in the 5th, and broke the game open in the 7th thanks to their second 3-run inning of the night. Izzaiah Walker shined once again for Norwich leading the way with 4 RBI’s and his first 3-hit performance of the season. Walker now has 6 RBIs in his last 2 games. As a team, Norwich collected 14 hits and 7 of the 9 starters recorded at least a hit.
Norwich (14-9) is back in action tonight for a double header with the top seed Westfield Starfires (11-7). First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. EST from Bullens Field.