The Norwich Sea Unicorns posted their first shutout victory of the season last nigh, defeating the Road Warriors 3-0. Norwich’s shutdown pitching performance led the way to their 11th win of the summer and returns them back atop the Future League standings.
Liam Carroll set the tone on the rubber tossing 4 scoreless innings in his first game at home. Carroll worked around a 3rd inning jam to preserve the early Norwich lead. The Road Warriors began the inning with a single and a double putting a pair of runners in scoring position with no outs. The New Haven product responded by recording a pair of strikeouts and a fly out to escape the jam unscathed. On the night, Carroll finished with 5 strikeouts, allowed 5 hits scattered throughout his 4 innings and threw 69% of his pitches for strikes to lower his season ERA to 1.54.
The bullpen followed the same rhythm set by Carroll, holding the Road Warriors to 2 hits the rest of the way. Hector Alejandro made his Sea Unicorns debut and earned the victory tossing 2 perfect innings in relief. Ethan Lewis continued his strong summer, maintaining his ERA of 0.00 while allowing just 1 hit and punching out a pair. Manager Kevin Murphy elected to bring in Giovanni Conte with 2 outs in the 8th after the Norwich shortstop committed an error allowing a 2 out base runner. Conte sealed the deal for Norwich striking out the side in the 9th to secure the Saturday night victory and his 2nd save of the summer. As a pitching staff, Norwich allowed just one walk and pounded the strike zone throwing 68% of their pitches for strikes.
AJ Soldra and Brennan Hyde did the heavy lifting for the Norwich offense combining for all 5 of Norwich’s hits. Soldra began the ballgame with a sharp single into right and later was brought home on Hyde’s sacrifice fly to right. The NJIT product once again jumpstarted the Norwich offense in the 8th with a lead off triple into the left center field gap. Hyde once again brought home Soldra, but this time thanks to an RBI single into center. The Sea Unicorns added another run in the 8th to extend their lead to 3. Hyde finished his night with 3 hits and a pair of RBI’s to give him 15 on the season which ranks tied for 2nd in the league.
Norwich is back in action today for a double header with the Brockton Rox on the road. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST. at Campanelli Field. Andrew Rondini will get the baseball for Norwich in game one. The Sea Unicorns will return home on Tuesday and will face a familiar foe in the Brockton Rox at 6:30 local time.