Vermont Lake Monsters

Vermont Rallies For 9-8 Victory Thursday

boxscore

BURLINGTON, VT — After falling behind 8-1 heading to the bottom of the seventh inning, the Vermont Lake Monsters rallied with seven runs over the final three frames before a Hunter Strohm one-out RBI single plated placed runner Tyler Wiltsey with the winning run in a 9-8 Futures League victory over the Norwich Sea Unicorns Thursday night on Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field. 

The comeback started in the seventh with two runs on a Wiltsey (Rutgers) RBI single and Strohm (Mississippi State) RBI groundout. The Lake Monsters scored four more times in the eighth on a Tyler Stroh (Fairleigh Dickinson) RBI,  Zach Geerstma (Mississippi State) two-out, two-run homer and Elias Huber (Arizona Western) RBI single.

James Henshon (Tufts) led off the bottom of the ninth with an infield single and scored the tying run two outs later when he scored  from first base on a stolen base, wild pitch and throwing error to third base all on one pitch. After a 1-2-3 top of the 10th inning, Wiltsey advanced to third on a Huber groundout to first and scored the winning run on Strohm’s RBI bouncing single  over the drawn infield.  

Norwich had scored three runs in the top of the first and four more in the fifth for a 7-1 lead before adding an eighth run in the seventh. Chase Burrows (Babson) retired all six Sea Unicorns he faced in the eighth and ninth innings before Brady Lane (Brandeis) a scoreless 10th for his third win of the season. 

MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* Geerstma 3-for-4, BB, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI
* Strohm 2-for-5, BB, 3 RBI
* Wiltsey 1-for-4, BB, 3 R, RBI

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE 
* Largest come-from-behind victory for Vermont since July 23, 2022 when Lake Monsters rallied from 9-0 deficit to beat Worcester 13-10 at Centennial
* Vermont (17-7) has won season-best 5 straight overall and 7 straight at Centennial (longest home winning streak since July 13-31, 2025)
* Geerstma 2-run homer was Vermont’s 5th of the season and 1st since June 6th (Jack Fitzgerald)
* After Norwich’s 3-run 1st inning, reliever Finn Haines (Rutgers) retired all 10 batters he faced (4 strikeouts) thru 4th inning
* Before the 3-run 1st, Vermont starting pitchers had allowed just 3 runs over their last 38 IP combined
* Vermont defense had a streak of 44 consecutive innings without an error broken with a fielding error in 5th (just 4th error in last 9 games)
* Recent Colchester HS grad Vinny Wagoner made his Vermont debut pitching the 7th inning
* Wagoner is the 37th native Vermonter to play for Lake Monsters (1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 SO)

UPCOMING 
Next Game: Friday vs. Norwich, 6:35pm
Promotion: First Responder’s Night
Broadcast: WYCI (TV), FCBLnetwork.com (streaming), WJOY 1230am (radio)