The Norwich Sea Unicorns got back into the win column defeating the Worcester Bravehearts 7-6 at home on Tuesday night. Norwich’s victory improves the Sea Unicorns to 15-10 and remain in 2nd in the Futures League standings.
There was no scoring in the ballgame until the bottom of the 3rd when Norwich was able to scratch across the first of the game. Prior to the home third, both starting pitchers were able to successfully work their way out of jams. In the bottom of the 2nd, Worcester starter Nik Pavia escaped a bases loaded jam after walking the bases loaded with 2 outs. Norwich starter Andrew Rondini successfully escaped a situation with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd to keep the ballgame scoreless. Norwich finally broke through in the home 3rd thanks to Alex Irizzary who punched a single into left field to drive home Brennan Hyde who cracked a double to center field earlier in the inning.
Norwich took control of the ballgame in the 6th inning jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Sea Unicorns did all their damage with a pair of outs in the inning and took complete advantage of 3 errors committed by the Worcester defense. Reliever Josh Fischer had a plethora of opportunities to escape the inning unscathed. The situation appeared harmless before things completely spiraled out of control for the Worcester defense. Initially the inning extended when a comebacker to the mound handcuffed Fischer and his throw to first was low and pulled the first baseman off the bag to allow Chris Carson to reach and Connor Lane to advance to third. Next, Anthony Tirado reached on an error committed by the Worcester shortstop on a bouncing ball that leaked into left field to extend the Norwich lead to 2. The Sea Unicorns doubled their lead after a dropped third strike went awry for the visitors as the throw down to 1st base sailed into right field bringing home Tirado and Carson. Hyde extended the host lead to 5 with an RBI base hit into left field.
The Sea Unicorns had the game in cruise control until the 8th when Worcester exploded for 4-runs to cut the Norwich lead to 1. Sea Unicorns reliever Tiernan Powers ran into trouble due to command trouble, hitting a pair of batters and a walk to load the bases with 1 out. Norwich turned to Giovanni Conte looking to minimize further damage. Despite the pitching change, Worcester was able to get on the board after a failed back pick to the 3rd base bag by the Norwich catcher spilled into left field. Jacob Hurrell sliced the Norwich lead to 2 with an RBI single to center. Further danger ensued when Matt Milone doubled off the left field wall to give Worcester runners at 2nd and 3rd with still only one out. A sacrifice fly narrowed the Norwich lead to 1 and finally provided Norwich their 2nd out of the inning. Conte ended the threat retiring the next batter he faced to preserve the lead for Norwich.
Norwich added some much-needed insurance in the home 8th, striking for a pair of runs to take a 7-4 lead. AJ Soldra and Brennan Hyde came through in the clutch once again, each delivering RBI singles into center field. On the night, both Soldra and Hyde finished with 3-hit performances and combined for 6 of the 8 hits for Norwich in the winning effort.
Once again Worcester looked to play spoiler in the 9th inning comeback effort. Conte appeared to be in prime position to close out the game needing just 2 pitches to retire the first two batters he faced. With 2 outs in the 9th, the Bravehearts battled to extend the game thanks to a double and a walk to give the visitors runners at 1st and 2nd. Shea Grady cut the Norwich lead to 1 with a single to left field. An error by the Norwich left fielder allowed Grady to take second and put the tying run in scoring position. The Sea Unicorns turned to Jimmy Mulvaney with 2 outs in the 9th and the tying run on second. Mulvaney was able to secure the victory for Norwich with a strikeout and Norwich was able to hold off Worcester.
Andrew Rondini earned the victory tossing 5 innings of shutout baseball and held the Worcester offense to just 2 hits while punching out 6. Rondini has now lowered his ERA to 0.45 in 20 innings of work this summer.
The Sea Unicorns are back in action tonight on the road with a meeting against the Nashua Silver Knights. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST from Holman Stadium. Timothy Lewis (0-1, 3.24 ERA) will get the baseball for Norwich and Vinny Civitella (0-2, 5.40 ERA) for Nashua.