Offensive Woes Continue in 4th Straight Defeat
New Britain, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns’ struggles at the plate persisted Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss to the New Britain Bees. Norwich mustered just three hits in the contest, falling for the fourth straight time to drop to 3-6 on the season. The Bees improved to 5-7 with the win.
Once again, Norwich opened the scoring, converting on a bases loaded opportunity in the 4th inning. Command trouble from reliever Carson Parrott fueled the threat for the Norwich offense. Parrott plunked the leadoff hitter and CJ Nolan followed with a base hit to left field. A one out walk to Gavin O’Brien loaded the bases for Norwich. Aidan Baglino manufactured the first run of the night drawing a 2 out walk. Unfortunately, that would be all Norwich would muster as Parrott minimized further damage.
The Sea Unicorns threatened in the 5th but failed to cash in with runners at 2nd and 3rd and one out, but Parrott worked out of trouble unscathed.
The score remained the same until the home 6th when the hosts evened the scoring. Reliever Daniel Cantafi issued a one out walk and later Colin Crowley followed with a single to center. New Britain produced the tying run on an errant throw by the Norwich shortstop that landed in the seats after recording the force out at second. Cantafi maneuvered his way out of further trouble to keep the game tied into the 7th.
In the 7th, New Britain took the lead on a 2 out 2 strike wild pitch. Myles Gythfeldt set up the scoring opportunity with a one out single poked into left. He later swiped second with a stolen base and advanced another 90 feet on the first of 2 wild pitches from Jack Novak. The right hander nearly avoided any damage in the frame, but a wild pitch with 2 strikes that leaked to the backstop brought home the go ahead run for the Bees.
Over the final 2 innings, Norwich managed one base runner against New Britain pitching. Unfortunately, the lone base runner was caught stealing to end the 8th. Overall, Norwich was caught stealing on all 3 occasions by Easton Masse who brilliantly controlled the Sea Unicorns run game.
Despite the loss, Sea Unicorns starter Luke Cardman was spectacular in his 2nd outing of the summer. The Catholic University product tossed 5 shutout innings while surrendering just 2 hits and struck out 4. His effective work earned him Pitcher of the Night honors after an impressive outing Tuesday night.
Norwich will look to snap their 4-game skid tomorrow night in their return to Dodd Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with Matt Wootton taking the mound for Norwich opposite Ben Oliveira.
Win – Adam Merritt (1-1)
Loss – Jack Novak (0-1)
Save – Evan Mello (S,1)
Time – 2:20
Written by Adam Plager