The defending Future League Champions opened the 2024 season with a come from behind victory against the New Britain Bees.
Norwich came out swinging to start the ballgame sending seven batters to the plate in the first inning and breaking through for 3-runs to grab an early 3-0 lead. Ryan Grace started the scoring for the visitors cranking an RBI double into right field. Brennan Hyde followed with an RBI double of his own to extend the lead to three.
New Britain responded with 3-runs in the home half of the first on a 3-run home run to erase the early Sea Unicorn lead. The 3-3 stalemate was short lived thanks to Alex Irizarry who wired a go-ahead single into right field to restore the lead for Norwich.
The early see-saw battle would continue in the bottom of the 3rd when the Bees answered with a pair of runs to take their first lead of the ballgame 5-4. Norwich battled back in the top of the 7th inning and took the lead for good with three runs on four hits. The Sea Unicorns added some insurance in the 9th inning with three more runs to secure a 5-run lead heading to the bottom of 9th.
Offensively Norwich received contributions throughout their lineup with seven different players recording at least a hit and multi-hit nights from five different players. Nick Tomasetto and Alex Irizarry helped lead the offensive surge in New Britain, each collecting 3 hits in the ballgame. Tomasetto finished his opening night with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI’s. Alex Irizarry and Brennan Hyde also had a pair of RBI’s and scored a pair of runs to lead the charge offensively.
On the mound the Sea Unicorns had an impressive night from their bullpen tossing six scoreless innings to the set stage for the come from behind effort on night one of the 2024 season. Giovanni Conte earned the victory for Norwich allowing 1 hit while striking out 5 in 2.2 innings. Tiernan Powers secured the opening day victory for the Sea Unicorns with his first save of the summer no hitting New Britain in 1.1 innings of work to close it out for Norwich.
Tomorrow night the Sea Unicorns will open their season as they welcome the Road Warriors to Dodd Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 EST with live pre-game music on the concourse beginning at 4:30 and postgame fireworks to follow the game. Come out and join us tomorrow night as we celebrate 30 seasons of baseball at Dodd Stadium!