The Norwich Sea Unicorns completed the sweep over the Vermont Lake Monsters on Education Day posting an 8-2 victory. The win for Norwich improves their record to 7-3 through their first 10 games of the season.
It was a fast start for the Norwich offense, quickly getting to Lake Monsters starter Gabe White in the first inning. The Sea Unicorns were able to take advantage of the command trouble from the Vermont starter, who allowed a walk and hit a batter to give Norwich a pair of early baserunners. Christian Stratis did damage with a pair of runners in scoring position on a RBI double roped into left field to drive in Garrett Larsen and AJ Soldra.
After escaping the first inning with minimized damage, White returned to the rubber for the second but ran into some early traffic, allowing the first 2 batters he faced to reach base safely. Vermont made an early call to the bullpen to try mitigating any further damage done in the inning. The Lake Monsters were able to turn a pivotal double play later in the inning to allow Norwich to only bring home a run in the frame after loading the bases with no outs.
The Norwich offense throughout the ballgame came in waves, scoring runs in 6 different innings en route to their monster victory to cap off the series against Vermont. Christian Stratis paved the way for the Sea Unicorns offense, going 4 for 4 with 4 RBI’s and has now improved his batting average to .440 on the season. Shortstop Nick Sturino also had a multi-hit afternoon for the Sea Unicorns. AJ Soldra delivered his first hit of the summer in style with a RBI triple to the left field wall in the 4th inning. Catcher Aidan Baglino, who has started the last 6 consecutive contests for Norwich behind the plate, shined once again at the plate with a pair of RBI’s thanks to a double in the 7th cranked into right. Overall, the Sea Unicorns were able to supply production throughout their lineup with 10 hits and 6 different starters recording hits in the winning effort.
On the mound, Norwich received a strong outing from Starter Tim Lewis who allowed just 1 run in 4.2 innings. The lone run Lewis surrendered came in the 5th inning on a pair of hits. Lewis finished his outing with 4 strikeouts and has now lowered his season ERA to 2.08. Gavin Hawkes carried Norwich to the finish line recording the final 13 outs to earn his second victory of the summer. Hawkes was electric in his relief appearance allowing just 1 hit to the Lake Monsters offense while punching out 4. The only blemish in the outing for Hawkes was the solo home run in the 9th inning. A key contributing factor in the success of yesterday’s pitching performance for the Sea Unicorns was the strike rate from Lewis and Hawkes who combined to throw 68% of their pitchers for strikes.
The Sea Unicorns are back in action tonight against the Road Warriors to close out the 3-game homestand. It is Thirsty Thursday tonight with specials on Narragansett presented by The Famous Narragansett Beer Company. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 EST.