Bees Bats Sting Norwich with Big 8th Inning

New Britain, CT – The Norwich Sea Unicorns dropped their third consecutive ballgame on Sunday night, falling 5-2 to the New Britain Bees at New Britain Stadium. Norwich’s defeat drops the Sea Unicorns to 2 games below .500, owning a record of 3-5 through 8 games.

There was no scoring in the ballgame until the 5th inning when Jack Sweeney socked his first home run of the summer to give Norwich the 1-0 lead. Norwich now has 3 home runs on the season, all solo blasts, and they have all come in enemy territory.

Ben Winslow shined in his second start of the summer, throwing 5 scoreless innings while holding the Bees to just one hit and striking out five. The Yale right-hander has now thrown nine shutout innings across two starts, allowing just three total hits, while holding opposing hitters to a .097 average.

Harrison Engle matched Winslow on the other side, limiting Norwich to three hits and one run over five innings while striking out six. His lone blemish was the leadoff homer to Sweeney in the fifth.

Norwich extended the lead in the 8th on a clutch 2 out single from Jayden Novak to plate Ian Moser who reached on a walk to begin the frame. Unfortunately, that would be all the offense the Sea Unicorns managed for the night.

New Britain changed the direction of the contest in the 8th, erupting for 5 runs on 4 hits to take a 5-2 lead. The Bees sent 9 batters to the plate in the inning and scored all 5 runs before Norwich recorded an out.  A pair of walks and an infield single loaded the bases for the hosts. PJ Hughes brought home the first run of the night for New Britain with a bases loaded walk. Colin Crowley delivered the big blow with a bases clearing triple to the wall in right and Chaz Wright followed with a base hit to right field to cap off the 5-run 8th inning for New Britain. Norwich needed 3 different pitchers to get through the inning.

The Sea Unicorns are back in action Tuesday night in New Britain, for another meeting with the Bees, before returning home on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. from New Britain Stadium. Luke Cardman is expected to take the mound for Norwich, opposite Joe DeRienzo.

Win – Jack Welsch (1-0)

Loss – DJ Peterson (0-1)

Save Ty Davis (1)

Time – 2:23