The Norwich Sea Unicorns erupted offensively, striking for 9 unanswered runs to secure a Sunday Funday victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters. Norwich’s victory improves the Sea Unicorns to a Futures League best 32-18 through 50 contests.
It was a rocky outing for Norwich starter Justin Marks who surrendered a pair of early runs in the 1st and survived just 2 innings. Vermont went to work immediately, recording both of their runs before Norwich had located an out. Sam Cavossa jumpstarted the Vermont offense ringing an RBI triple to drive home the 1st run of the afternoon for the visitors. A wild pitch allowed the Lake Monsters to quickly extend their lead. After surrendering a pair of early runs Marks was able to escape the frame without any further damage.
In the second, Vermont threatened once again after Marks issued a pair of free passes to begin the stanza. A sacrifice bunt advanced both baserunners to give Vermont runners at 2nd and 3rd with one away. The Sea Unicorns shifted their corner infielders in and immediately paid off as a ground ball to 1st prevented a potential 3rd run from crossing the plate and provided Norwich with an important 2nd out. The Eastern Connecticut State product induced another groundball to mitigate the Lake Monsters threat unscathed.
The Sea Unicorns responded with a pair of runs in the 4th to draw the game even at 2 apiece. Antonio Ducatelli and Anthony Tirado began the threat collecting back-to-back one out base hits. A walk to Alex Irizarry loaded the bases for Norwich. Vermont starter, Hayden Mutz battled back striking out the next batter he faced to land a 2nd out. Bo Yaworski continued his strong surge at the plate, delivering a clutch game tying single with 2 strikes.
Norwich took the lead in the 5th thanks to some crafty work on the bases by AJ Soldra. The Orange, Connecticut native began the frame working a lead off walk. Soldra quickly moved into scoring position swiping second base. A wild pitch moved Soldra to 3rd with Nick Tomasetto still batting. The Rutgers product brought home Soldra with a ground out to the Vermont second baseman.
The offense for Norwich continued to come in waves, adding a pair of runs in each of the following 3 innings to build a 7-run lead. The host took advantage of command issues by the Vermont bullpen, who issued 7 walks over 4 innings of relief.
Once again, the Sea Unicorns bullpen shined, firing 7 innings of shutout baseball. The bullpen for Norwich held the Vermont offense to just 4 hits and issued only 2 walks. Kaden Murphy earned his 1st victory of the summer working 3 innings in relief after entering the ballgame in the 3rd. In total, the bullpen has now worked 11 consecutive innings of scoreless baseball.
Norwich is back in action on the road Tuesday night for a meeting with the New Britain Bees. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. EST from New Britain Stadium.
Win- Kaden Murphy (1-0)
Loss- Charlie Kutz (0-2)
Time- 2:58