Norwich Stumbles in Sunday Loss at Westfield
Westfield, MA – The Norwich Sea Unicorns were defeated on Sunday afternoon at Bullens Field, falling 12-2 to the Westfield Starfires. Norwich now carries a record of 7-8 through their 15 ballgames and have dropped 2 in a row.
Westfield came out swinging, scoring runs in each of their first 3 innings at the plate, to build an early 8-0 cushion. In the first, the Starfires rallied with 2 outs for a pair of runs thanks to a Josh Frometa double to left field to score Evan Menzel who walked earlier. Jack Quetschenbach followed with a base hit to score Frometa.
Command trouble from Sea Unicorns starter Landon Manzi paved the way for the Westfield offense in the 2nd loading the bases with no outs after a leadoff walk and a couple hit batsmen. A pair of wild pitches to Alex Ulloa helped increase the hosts lead to 4.
The Starfires broke the game open in the 4th erupting for 4 runs and once again were aided by command issues from the Sea Unicorns pitching staff. Norwich walked a batter and plunked 3 others to force home the first run of the frame. The big blow came off the bat of Alex Ulloa who smoked a bases clearing double to centerfield.
Kenny Noe produced the only offense for Norwich in the 4th inning with his 2nd home run in the last 3 days. The homer is the second of the summer for the Monmouth product and have both come on the road against Westfield. Noe’s longball trimmed the Westfield lead to 8-2.
Westfield’s second 4-run inning of the afternoon ended the ballgame in the 7th inning due to the run rule. The Starfires did their damage needing just 2 hits as Norwich pitching walked a batter and hit 3 others to help supply the offense for the Starfires.
Norwich will look to right the ship on Tuesday night when they face the top seeded Worcester Bravehearts. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from Fitton Field.
Win – Greg Strite (2-0)
Loss – Landon Manzi (0-1)
Save – Dan Lang (S, 1)
Time – 2:37
Written by Adam Plager