Norwich Unable to Overcome Bees 5th Inning
Norwich, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns fell 8-3 on Thursday night against their in-state foe New Britain Bees to begin a pivotal home and home series. Thursday’s defeat drops Norwich to 4th place in the Futures League standings, owning a record of 27-32 with 2 games remaining in the regular season.
Norwich began the scoring in the 2nd inning against New Britain starter Jake Risedorf to take an early 1-0 lead. CJ Nolan jumpstarted the Norwich offense, wiring a leadoff double down the left field line. Gabriel Rivera delivered the games first run, dumping a one out single into left to score Nolan.
The Sea Unicorns extended their lead in the third on a two-out RBI single from Antonio Ducatelli. Norwich immediately applied pressure against Bees reliever Devin DiVita, as Jack Byrne led off the inning with a single to left and Joey Erace followed with a well-placed bunt single to put two aboard. DiVita settled in and retired the next two batters, nearly escaping the jam unscathed. However, a potential inning-ending double play was thwarted when Bryce Detwiler beat the throw to first, extending the inning and setting the stage for Ducatelli’s clutch knock.
New Britain responded with a pair of runs in the 4th to tie the game at 2. Despite being no-hit through the first 3 innings, the Bees rallied with 2 outs against Norwich reliever Landon Manzi. Caleb Miller began the rally drawing a 2 out walk and quickly moved into scoring position swiping second. Jack Kane brought home Miller, rocketing a 2 out triple to the wall in left field, and an infield single from Chaz Wright plated Kane to tie the game.
The Bees offense continued to roll in the 5th, striking for three runs to take the lead. Manzi issued a leadoff walk to Jake Risedorf and George Slauson made him pay, clobbering a 2-run homerun to right. The right-hander bounced back with a strikeout, but Brennan Staubley reignited the rally with a one-out single to left. Colin Crowley followed with a double to right, putting two runners in scoring position. A grounder to short brought home Staubley, stretching the New Britain lead to three.
Norwich battled back with a run in the home 5th to cut the Bees lead to 2, but that would be the closest Norwich would come. Back-to-back one out walks set the table for the Norwich offense. Later, an error from the Bees third baseman allowed a run to score.
New Britain broke the game open in the ninth with their second three-run inning of the night. Command issues from Norwich reliever Ryan Camp set the stage, as he walked the first two batters and hit the third to load the bases. A groundout to third plated the first run, and back-to-back one-out singles pushed across two more to make it 8–3.
Win – Devin DiVita (1-0)
Loss – Jack Novak (0-3)
Time – 3:02
Norwich is back in action tonight in New Britain to conclude a home and home series with the Bees. Matt Tabet (0-1) will make his fourth start of the summer opposite Colin Blake (1-2). First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. as the Sea Unicorns look to split the series.