Norwich Unable to Keep Pace with Vermont in Series Finale
Norwich, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns were shutout 11-0 in the rubber match of the series with the Vermont Lake Monsters on Thursday. The loss drops Norwich below .500 for the first time this summer while the victory for Vermont moves the Lake Monsters atop the Futures League holding a record of 5-3.
Vermont opened the scoring in the 1st on the first of 3 RBI from Shaun McMillan who ripped a one out single into left field. The opportunity was set up by a failed ‘pickoff attempt from the Sea Unicorns that sailed into foul territory allowing the baserunner to take 3rd. Norwich starter Brendan Grady mitigated any further damage after navigating around an early traffic, jam stranding a pair of runners to escape the frame.
There was no scoring until the 4th when Vermont opened the floodgates, striking for 5 to build a 6-0 lead. Command trouble from Grady set the stage for the Lake Monsters loading the bases on a couple of free passes issued by the UCONN product and an infield single. Thomas O’Connell delivered for the visitors with a bases clearing double to the wall in right. Sam Cavossa continued his big series with a run scoring single into right. Later, McMillan capped off the scoring in the inning with a ground rule double to left. In the inning, Vermont combined for 6 hits and sent 10 batters to the plate.
The visitor’s offensive explosion continued in the 5th with their second consecutive 5-run inning of the ballgame. This time the Lake Monsters capitalized on a couple of errors committed by the Norwich defense. Overall, Vermont sent 8 men to the plate and pieced together 3 hits to make it 11-0.
Lake Monster starter John Delgado stifled the Norwich offense to 2 hits and struck out 5 in route to his first win of the summer. The bullpen followed in his footsteps, tossing 2 no hit innings to keep Norwich off the board.
Despite the lopsided score, Norwich reliever Jack Novak hurled 2.2 innings of 2-hit baseball allowing no earned runs. The Westfield State product has now worked 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball to begin his summer with the Sea Unicorns.
Norwich will look to right the ship tomorrow night against the Nashua Silver Knights before returning home Saturday vs. Worcester. Ben Winslow will take the mound for Norwich opposite Will Perkowski. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at Holman Stadium.
Win – John Delgado (1-0)
Loss – Brendan Grady (0-1)
Time – 2:08
Written by Adam Plager