Lake Monsters Surge Late, Rally Twice in Doubleheader Sweep of Norwich

Burlington, VT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns were unable to hold onto their late leads against the Vermont Lake Monsters Wednesday night, dropping both contests. Norwich has now lost 3 straight and are back under .500 holding a record of 26-27 with 9 games remaining.

Game 1

The evening began with the completion of a suspended game from July 13, with Norwich holding a 6-5 lead in extra innings. Unfortunately, that edge would not hold as Vermont rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 10th to walk off the Sea Unicorns for the second straight night.

The game had been scoreless through the first four innings before Norwich broke through in the 5th. Chace Chaplin opened the scoring with a solo blast—his first home run of the summer—to give Norwich a 1-0 lead.

Norwich added another run in the 6th. Alec Warden drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and moved to third on CJ Nolan’s base hit. Cal Chance then brought Warden home with a fielder’s choice, extending the lead to 2-0.

Vermont responded with a four-run bottom of the 6th. After a leadoff walk and a double by Xander Meissner, Sam Cavossa tied the game with a 2-run single up the middle. With the score even and a runner on second, Norwich turned to reliever Jack Novak. After Chance caught Cavossa stealing third and Novak induced a flyout, Hunter Kingsbury gave Vermont the lead with a two-out, two-run homer to make it 4-2.

The Sea Unicorns responded in the 7th. After loading the bases with a walk and back-to-back singles, a wild pitch scored Chaplin, and a sacrifice fly by Anthony Tirado tied the game at 4-4.

Vermont pulled ahead again in the 8th on a solo home run from Jeremy Sosa, but Norwich forced extras with a 9th-inning rally. Tirado led off with a single, advanced to third on two wild pitches, and scored on a groundout by Chance.

Norwich briefly regained the lead in the 10th, but Vermont walked it off once again with two runs in the home half.

Win – Zander Teator (3-1)
Loss – Gio Conte (2-3)
Time – 3:23

Game 2

Vermont completed the sweep with a 6-4 win in the originally scheduled game, taking the first three games of the series.

The Lake Monsters jumped on Norwich starter Cooper Maher early, striking for a pair of runs in the 1st. With two outs in the 1st, Cooper Berry launched a 2-run homer to give Vermont an early lead.

The hosts added another in the 3rd. After a leadoff walk to Cavossa and a wild pitch, Bryan Richman singled to put runners at the corners. Cavossa came around to score on a Shaun McMillan fielder’s choice, making it 3-0.

Norwich responded in the 4th. Connor Scanlan walked, advanced on a passed ball and wild pitch, and scored on a fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The Sea Unicorns erupted for three runs in the 7th to briefly take a 4-3 lead. Scanlan singled and advanced to second on a right field error. Scanlan kickstarted the rally punching a single to right and took second on an error by the Vermont right fielder. Charlie Walsh drew a one out walk to set the table for Chace Chaplin who cracked a double to score Scanlan.  Jack Sweeney’s sac fly tied the game, and Antonio Ducatelli delivered a go-ahead single to left.

Vermont answered with a pair of runs in the home 7th to grab a 5-4 lead. Back-to-back singles and a one out walk loaded the bases for the Lake Monsters. Norwich reliever Cam Thomas struck out the next batter but then walked in the tying run and hit the next batter to force home the go-ahead run.

The Lake Monsters added insurance in the 8th. After a double by Tommy Popoff and a fielding error, Richman came through again with a two-out RBI single to stretch Vermont’s lead to 6-4.

Sean Gamble locked down the victory for Vermont, tossing a scoreless 9th inning to pick up his 9th save of the summer.

Win – Jack McLaughlin (4-0)
Loss – Cam Thomas (4-3)
Save – Sean Gamble (S, 9)
Time – 2:52

UPCOMING

Norwich will look to salvage their Vermont trip tonight after dropping their first 3 games at Centennial Field. Frank Spirito (1-0) will look to lead the Sea Unicorns back into winning form opposite Jack Kelleher (4-0). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

Written by Adam Plager