Rondini Shines Once Again as Norwich Wins Big
The Norwich Sea Unicorns earned the series split with a convincing victory over the Brockton Rox 7-1 on Sunday Funday at Dodd Stadium. Norwich’s lopsided victory moves them back into second place of the Futures League standings, improving to 9-5 on the season.
It was a fast start for the Norwich offense striking for a pair of runs in the 1st to take an early 2-0 lead. The first two batters reached base safely for the Sea Unicorns and quickly moved up a station on a passed ball. Christian Stratis got the home side on the board with a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Anthony Tirado. AJ Soldra came through for Norwich with a pair of outs, lining an RBI single into left field to bring home Brennan Hyde. The inning ended abruptly after Soldra was caught stealing second base to prevent any further damage in the inning.
The fast start for Norwich supplied starter Andrew Rondini with some early run support. It was another dominant outing for the reigning Futures League Pitcher of the Week, firing 6 innings of 1-hit shutout baseball. Rondini’s 6 scoreless innings is his longest start of the summer and his first victory. Overall, Rondini finished the afternoon with 6 strikeouts and lowered his season ERA to 0.60.
There was no more scoring in the game until the bottom of the 5th inning. Norwich extended their lead to 3, and later they broke the game open thanks to a 3-run 7th inning. Offensively Norwich received contributions throughout their lineup en route to a 7-1 victory over the Rox. The bottom of the order was a catalyst for Norwich, receiving multi-hit performances from Nick Sturino and Shaun Callahan, who were batting 7th and 9th respectively in the Sea Unicorn batting order.
The bullpen for Norwich was lights out to secure the series finale victory. Ethan Lewis tossed a scoreless 7th inning managing to maneuver around a pair of base hits. David Rodriguez closed out the ballgame for Norwich and was impressive in his Sea Unicorns debut, striking out 5 in his two innings of relief. The lone run for Brockton occurred in the 9th on a throwing error made by the Norwich catcher trying to pickoff the runner stealing second and his throw sailed into center field allowing the lead base runner at third to come home and score.
Norwich is back in action on Tuesday to begin a 2-game series on the road against the Vermont Lake Monsters. First pitch is schedule for 6:35 EST. Norwich returns home on Thursday for a meeting with the top seeded Westfield Starfires.