NORWICH, CT — Sam Cavossa went 4-for-5 with a pair of runs and two RBI, while Bryan Richman added pair of RBI doubles and an RBI single to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a 9-2 Futures League victory over the Norwich Sea Unicorns Wednesday afternoon at Dodd Stadium.
Vermont took an early 3-0 lead on a Malcolm Whitfield (Tufts) RBI single in the top of the first, James Henshon (Tufts) sacrifice fly in the third and Richman (Pasadena CC) RBI double in the fourth. Lake Monsters built the advantage to 5-0 in the sixth on the Cavossa (Saint Michael’s) RBI triple followed by a Richman RBI single.
Norwich cut its deficit to 5-2 and had the bases loaded with one out in the seventh, but Sean Gamble (Bethany Lutheran) recorded back-to-back strikeouts to squash the rally. The 2024 FCBL Reliever of the Year earned his second save of the young season, going the final 2 ⅔ scoreless innings with seven of the eight outs recorded by strikeout
Shaun McMillan (St. John’s), who went 2-for-5 in his second Lake Monsters game, added an RBI double in 8th before Vermont tallied three more runs in the ninth including a Cavossa RBI single and Richman’s second RBI double.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
* Cavossa 4-for-5, BB, 3 R, 2 RBI
* Richman 3-for-5, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI
* Aidan Botti (Cuesta/Proctor HS) 3-for-5, 2 R, RBI
* Gamble (S) 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 SO
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Lake Monsters finished with 17 hits, most in a game since 18 hits July 22, 2023 at New Britain
* Vermont 9-1-2 hitters were a combined 10-for-15 with 6 R and 6 RBI
* Lake Monsters had 5 players with multi-hits, including Whitfield with 2 hits
* The victory was Vermont’s first regular-season win at Norwich since August 2, 2022, snapping a 9-game losing streak at Dodd Stadium (Lake Monsters did win game 1 of 2024 semifinals at Norwich)
* Starter Brady Bendik (Navy) allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts over first 4 innings, while Jack Birtwell (Gordon) 1 run on 2 hits over 2 relief innings to earn the victory
Next Game: Thursday at Norwich, 6:30pm
Next Home Game: Friday vs. Westfield, 6:35pm