Matt Wooton’s Game 2 Gem Lifts Norwich to Doubleheader Split Against Nashua
Nashua, NH – The Norwich Sea Unicorns split their Saturday doubleheader against the Nashua Silver Knights dropping a heart breaker in the opener 2-1 and bounced back in the night cap posting a 4-0 shutout. Norwich now carries a record of 11-16 entering play on Sunday.
Game 1
It was a pitcher’s duel at Holman Stadium as the game remained scoreless until the home 5th. In fact, both sides were held to one hit apiece through the first 4 innings of the contest.
Norwich starter Frank Spirito ran into his first trouble of the afternoon due to command struggles. The Silver Knights leadoff batter reached via a hit by pitch to start the frame and a 2 out walk to Dylan Littlefield provided traffic on the bases for the hosts. Joseph Zorc delivered the first run of the ballgame on a single to center field. A throwing error from the Norwich centerfielder allowed Littlefield to go 1st to 3rd on the play. Despite allowing the 1 earned run the UCONN product was sharp in his outing working 4.2 IP and limited the Nashua offense to 3 hits while striking out 4.
On the other side, Nashua starter Andrew Chenevert was equally impressive over 5 plus innings of work holding the Norwich offense to 1 earned run on 3 hits and 4 strikeouts as well.
The Sea Unicorns responded with a run in the 6th to level the scoring at 1. Chenevert ran into immediate danger in the 6th after 5 shutout innings. Norwich loaded the bases thanks to a leadoff single from Alec Warden followed by a hit batsman and a single from Antonio Ducatelli. The second hit of the inning from the Norwich offense ended the night for Chenevert as the Sea Unicorns had a bases loaded threat looming. Nashua elected to bring in Brennan Rumpf to escape a bases loaded jam with no outs. Rumpf held Norwich to just 1 run as Anthony Tirado worked a one out walk. Besides the walk the right hander struck out a pair and ended the inning on a grounder to second.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the 7th setting up a dramatic finish. Once again it was Joseph Zorc who delivered the big blow for Nashua, launching a walkoff home run to win the game for Nashua.
Win – Brennan Rumpf (2-0)
Loss – Ryan Camp (3-1)
Time – 1:52
Game 2
It was the Matt Wootton show in the night cap of the doubleheader. The Eastern Connecticut State product shined once his again for the Sea Unicorns delivering his best outing of the summer to lift Norwich past Nashua. The right hander tossed 7 shutout innings holding the Nashua offense to 2 base hits while striking out a season high 7. Wootton’s dominant outing earned him Futures League Pitcher of the Night honors for the 2nd time this summer.
Norwich took the lead in the 3rd on a 2 out wild pitch from Nashua starter Josh Florence allowing Chard to score after singling earlier in the frame. Chard advanced to 2nd after Kenny Noe worked a one out walk and took 3rd on a Bryce Detwiler fielder’s choice.
The Sea Unicorns added some insurance in the 6th striking for 3 runs to take a 4-0 lead. Norwich went to work immediately against Mike Crowley loading the bases with no outs thanks to a leadoff infield single from Kenny Noe followed by a ringing double from Bryce Detwiler. With runners at 2nd and 3rd and no outs the Silver Knights elected to intentionally walk Chace Chaplin to load the bases. The move was unsuccessful as newcomer Cal Chance worked a one out walk to force home the 2nd run of the night for Norwich. Crowley bounced back retiring the next 2 batters he faced before Jack Byrne delivered a clutch 2 out single to increase the Norwich lead to 4.
Win – Matt Wootton (2-1)
Loss – Josh Florence (0-1)
Time – 1:44
The Sea Unicorns are back in action this afternoon for the first of two against the rival New Britain Bees. DJ Peterson (1-1) will make his 2nd start of the summer for Norwich opposite Colin Blake (0-1) of the Bees. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. from New Britain Stadium.
Written by Adam Plager