Norwich Unable to Overcome Nashua’s Big 4th Inning
The Norwich Sea Unicorns came up just short in the comeback effort Saturday night, falling to the Silver Knights 4-3. Norwich’s setback moves the Sea Unicorns to 14-10 through 24 ballgames and remain in 2nd in the Futures League standings.
There was no scoring in the ballgame until the home 4th. Nashua exploded offensively striking for 4-runs to jump out to a 4-0 lead. Nashua did all their damage in the inning with one out. After allowing a leadoff base hit, Teo Spadaccini struck out the next batter he faced before running into trouble. Nashua produced their first run of the game on a double to center field. The Silver Knights were then able to load the bases due to some command trouble from Spadaccini, who walked and hit the following batters he faced respectively. The host extended their lead on a base hit to left field. Later in the inning, an error committed by the Norwich second baseman brought home a pair of runs to allow Nashua to take a 4-0 lead. Spadaccini finally was able to stop the bleeding thanks to a 5-4-3 inning ending double play.
Nashua starter Derek Woods held the Norwich offense in check through 6 innings. Woods held the Sea Unicorns offense to just 1 hit over his 6 scoreless innings of work and struck out 7. The only hit surrendered by Woods during his dominant outing was a lead off base hit to AJ Soldra. Norwich’s only other baserunners occurred on a pair of walks and a pair of errors committed by the Nashua defense.
Norwich came to life in the 7th inning breaking through for 3-runs against Nashua reliever Phil Nichols. Similar to the Silver Knights in the 4th, Norwich did all their damage with one out in the 7th. Newcomer Phil Link (Sacred Heart) provided the Sea Unicorns with their second hit of the game on a base hit into left field. The Sea Unicorns loaded the bases after Aidan Baglino was hit by a pitch and Garrett Larsen reached on an infield hit. AJ Soldra continued his success at the plate and cut the Nashua lead to 1 with a bases clearing double to center field, but was then called out at 3rd trying to extend his double. Soldra now has hits in 9 straight games, 3 consecutive multi-hit games, and 5 RBIs in his last 3 games raising his batting average to .400 on the summer.
Unfortunately, the monster 7th inning for Norwich would be all the offense the Sea Unicorns would receive and the closest they would come. The Sea Unicorns threatened in the 9th against reliever Kyan Bagshaw with a pair of outs in the inning. Baglino drew a walk, and was pinch ran for by Trey Porter, and Garrett Larsen recorded his 2nd hit of the ballgame to give Norwich runners at the corners. The ballgame came to an abrupt end on a wild pitch to AJ Soldra, as the Nashua catcher was able to throw out the Sea Unicorn base runner at 3rd to secure the victory for Nashua.
Despite the loss, Andrew Gaines was electric in his relief role, striking out 6 in his three innings of work to help keep the Sea Unicorns within striking distance. Gaines now has 20 strikeouts in 13.1 innings and lowered his ERA to 1.35 over 6 appearances.
The Sea Unicorns return home on Tuesday for a meeting with the Worcester Bravehearts. It is $2 Hot Dogs along at Dodd Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. EST. Andrew Rondini will get the baseball for Norwich (1-0, 0.60 ERA) as the Sea Unicorns will look to get back into the win column.