NORWICH — The Norwich Sea Unicorns scored six runs, four on a Connor Lane grand slam, in the bottom of the first inning and went on to defeat the Vermont Lake Monsters 10-4 in Futures League action Friday night at Dodd Stadium.
Norwich scored its first two runs on a bases loaded passed ball and a bases loaded hit batter before Lane connected for the grand slam off Vermont starter Eddie Kaftan (Catholic). It was the second grand slam allowed by Vermont pitchers in as many innings (Westfield had one in 9th inning Thursday).
Vermont got its first run in the fourth on a Dante Pozzi (Catholic) RBI single before the Sea Unicorns added three runs in bottom of fourth for 10-1 advantage. Lake Monsters added three runs in the eighth on an Owen McKiernan (Tufts) bases loaded walk and Sam Cavossa (Saint Michael’s) two-run single.
Zach Davis (Bryant), came on in the fifth inning Lake Monsters third pitcher of the game, helped save the Vermont bullpen for the final two games of the regular-season by tossing four scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and a strikeout. Vermont (29-25) remain a half-game ahead of New Britain (28-25) for third-place.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
- Davis 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
- Pozzi 2-for-4, 1 RBI
- Zander Teator (Babson) 2-for-5, 1 R
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Pozzi, Teator and Mark Quatrani (Cornell) each had 2 of Vermont’s 7 hits
- Quatrani has now hit safely in 9 of last 10 games (14-for-35, .400) and hitting .338 overall (3rd in the FCBL)
- Davis lowered his season ERA from 5.25 to 3.71 with the 4 scoreless innings
BEYOND BOXSCORE
- The Lake Monsters have allowed 10 or more runs in 2 straight games for the 1st time since joining the Futures League in 2021
- Vermont has now gone 18 straight games without a home run (last homer was July 12th)
- With New Britain and Worcester scheduled to play each other Saturday, Vermont can clinch a playoff spot with a Worcester loss or remain in 3rd-place with New Britain loss
Next Game: Saturday, 6:05pm vs. Nashua (30th Anniversary celebration/fireworks)
Broadcast Info: Streaming on FCBLnetwork.com and live on WYCI-TV