Ticket Punched, Norwich is Headed Back to the Futures League Championship

The Norwich Sea Unicorns are headed back to the Futures League Championship after a decisive Game 3 victory over the Lake Monsters 10-3. Norwich’s victory yesterday has clinched the Sea Unicorns an opportunity to defend their title against the Westfield Starfires in a best of 3 series.

Alex Irizarry helped lift off the Norwich offense with a mammoth 1st inning grand slam off Vermont starter Cole Riskin. Norwich took full advantage of Riskin’s command troubles as he walked the bases loaded to set the stage for Irizarry. The Quinnipiac product has now homered in back-to-back contests and has collected 7 RBIs in the postseason.

Riskin lasted just 0.2 innings, surrendering 4 runs and issued 4 walks before manager Matt Fincher decided to remove his starter. Vermont brought in Zander Teator, who was originally in the ballgame as the DH, to clean up the early mess. The Babson product shined out of the bullpen, tossing 5.1 innings of a perfect game in relief, including 7 strikeouts. Offensively, Teator impressed as well, going 3 for 4 at the plate.

Teator’s efforts on the mound allowed Vermont a chance to climb out of an early 4-0 deficit. The Lake Monsters slowly battled back adding a run in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th innings to cut the Norwich lead to 1. In the 2nd, Tommy Googins helped Vermont get on the board with an RBI single to bring home Dante Pozzi who doubled earlier in the frame. Sam Cavossa ignited the Lake Monsters offense in the 3rd with a leadoff triple and was quickly brought home on a Mark Quatrani sacrifice fly.

In the 5th, Vermont threatened loading the bases with no outs on a pair of singles and a walk. After the first 2 batters reached base safely, Sea Unicorns manager Kevin Murphy elected to bring in Gavin Hawkes to minimize the damage. Hawkes allowed a base hit on his first pitch to load the bases. The Rider product quickly settled down, retiring the next 3 batters he faced in order to escape the jam with minimal damage, allowing just 1 run to score on a sac fly.

Norwich added some important insurance in the 7th striking for 3 runs to take a 7-3 lead. Trey Porter jumpstarted the offense with a leadoff pinch-hit triple to begin the frame. Chris Carson followed, cracking an RBI base hit into left field past the drawn in Lake Monsters infield. Carson found his way into scoring position after swiping second base and came around to score on a throwing error by the Vermont third baseman, who airmailed his throw up the right field line on Aidan Baglino’s bunt single. The throwing error allowed Baglino to take second base and later advanced to 3rd on a ground out. Nick Sturino helped drive home his Fairfield teammate on a sac fly to restore Norwich’s 4-run lead.

The offense for Norwich continued to rumble in the 8th, adding another 3 runs to take a 10-3 lead. Command trouble from Sean Gamble helped Norwich load the bases with no outs thanks to a pair of walks and a base hit. Trey Porter extended the Norwich lead to 5 with a sac fly and also allowed the base runner from 2nd to tag up and take 3rd. A wild pitch to Chris Carson allowed a 2nd run to cross the plate in the frame. Aidan Baglino added the final tally, dumping a base hit into left field to score Alex Irizarry.

Once again, the bullpen for Norwich shined, allowing 1 run over the final 5 innings. Overall, the Norwich bullpen surrendered just 1 run in the series in 13 innings of work.

Win- Giovanni Conte (1-0)

Loss- Cole Riskin (0-1)

Time- 2:46

UPCOMING

Yesterday’s victory has punched Norwich’s ticket into the Futures League Championship and a chance to defend their title. The Sea Unicorns will face the second seeded Westfield Starfires in a best of 3 series beginning Saturday night. Due to the expected weather in Norwich the series will begin in Westfield at Bullens Field at 5 p.m. EST on Saturday. Norwich will host games 2 and 3 in a Sunday doubleheader at Dodd Stadium. Game 2 will begin at 1 p.m. and Game 3 will begin at 6 p.m. if necessary. Both contests on Sunday will be full 9-innng games.