Sea Unicorns Deliver First Winning Streak Of Season
Norwich Completes Double Header Sweep over Nashua
Norwich, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns quenched their thirst on Thirsty Thursday picking up a double header sweep over the Nashua Silver Knights. Norwich won the opener 8-2 and followed with a 5-0 shutout victory in the second leg of the twin bill.
Game 1
Nashua opened the scoring in the opener converting on a bases loaded opportunity. The Silver Knights loaded the bases with no outs after reaching on a pair of infield singles and a walk against Norwich starter Cam Thomas. The Keene State product narrowly escaped the jam unscathed, however James Benestad delivered for the visitors flipping a 2 out single to center field to score a pair.
The Sea Unicorns sliced the Nashua lead in half with a run of their own in the home half. Gabriel Rivera plated Jayden Novak with his first of 2 RBI singles of the evening.
Norwich took the lead in the 2nd striking for 3 runs against Nashua starter Nate Kelleher-Mochak. The hosts rattled off 4 hits in the frame in route to building a 4-2 lead. Gavin O’Brien began the inning drawing a leadoff walk. Jack Byrne followed with a RBI triple to the wall in right. Ian Moser continued the offensive flurry punching a single to right to score Byrne. The Sea Unicorns loaded the bases thanks to back-to-back singles from Kenny Noe and Aidan Stern. Novak produced the final run of the inning with a fielder’s choice groundout.
The score remained the same until the 6th when Norwich broke the game open erupting for 4 runs to take an 8-2 lead. Norwich took complete advantage of control problems from the Nashua bullpen which walked three and plunked 3 straight batters. The hosts recorded just one hit in the frame.
Despite a rocky first inning, Sea Unicorns starter Cam Thomas battled his way through 4 innings to earn the victory. The bullpen shined behind Thomas allowing just 1 hit in the final 3 innings and 2 base runners overall.
Win – Cam Thomas (1-1)
Loss – Nate Kelleher-Mochak (0-2)
Time – 2:12
Game 2
Brendan Grady dazzled for Norwich in the finale tossing 5 innings of 2-hit baseball. The Trinity product opened his outing in spectacular form striking out the first 4 batters he faced. Grady’s masterful performance earned him Futures League Pitcher of the Night honors working 5 shutout innings and a season high 8 strikeouts. Norwich now has had their starting pitcher named Pitcher of the Night four days in a row.
Norwich immediately provided Grady with early run support cashing in a run in the 1st with the bases loaded. Anthony Tirado and Chace Chaplin each connected with one out singles to center field to begin the threat. Caden Fahy followed with a walk and a fielder’s choice from Spencer Chard plated Tirado to give Norwich the early 1-0 advantage.
Norwich extended the lead to 3 in the 3rd on the third double of the summer smashed by Charlie Walsh to score Chaplin and Chard. Chaplin opened the inning drawing a leadoff walk and Chard who cracked a double of his own earlier in the frame.
Charlie Walsh continued his monster night at the plate in the 5th, belting a one out triple to right field to score Chard who singled earlier in the inning. Later, Jack Ohman produced his first hit and RBI of the summer with 2 outs dumping a base hit to right to score Walsh.
DJ Peterson locked down the victory for Norwich working 2 scoreless innings out of the pen. The Yale product scattered 2 hits and struck out 3 to complete the double header sweep for Norwich over Nashua on Thursday night.
The win for Norwich is their third win in a row and returns the Sea Unicorns back to .500 holding a record of 6-6. Norwich is back in action tomorrow night on the road in Westfield for a meeting with the Westfield Starfires. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Win – Brendan Grady
Loss – Justin Dressler
Time – 2:06
Written by Adam Plager
