BURLINGTON, VT —D.J. Perron and Andrew Bianco both hit solo home runs, while four Norwich limited the Lake Monsters to just two hits as the Sea Unicorns opened a weekend Future League series with a 3-2 victory over Vermont Saturday night infront of sellout crowd of 4,076 historic Centennial Field.
Vermont starter Francis Ferguson (Eastern Nazarene) retired the first six Norwich batters before Perron lined third home run of the season out to left to open the top of the third. Lake Monsters tied game in the bottom of the third when Tommy Martin (Yale) scored from third on a wild pitch.
The Sea Unicorns retook the lead in the fifth on a one-out walk to Perron that was followed by back-to-back singles including a Johnny Knox RBI single. Bianco, who had tripled in fourth inning, led off the sixth with his fifth home run of the year into the leftfield bleachers.
Jordan Kang (Harvard) led of the bottom of the sixth with Vermont’s second hit, a single to right, and later scored on the Lake Monsters second run-scoring wild pitch of the game to cut deficit to 3-2. But with one out and tying run on third in sixth, Norwich got out of jam with groundout and flyout before retiring nine of the last 10 Vermont batters.
The loss drops the Lake Monsters (28-15) two games behind Worcester (31-14) for first-place in FCBL standings, while Norwich (28-16) moves a half-game behind Vermont for second-place. The Lake Monsters and Sea Unicorns will play pair of games 4:05pm Sunday (nine-inning completion of suspended game from July 2nd and followed by seven-inning contest).
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
- Ferguson 5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 SO
- Kang 1-for-3, 1 BB, 1 R
- Jack Winnay (Wake Forest) 1-for-4, 2B (in 2nd inning)
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Crowd of 4,076 was the largest of the season at Centennial and 3rd largest in 102 home dates since Vermont joined the FCBL in 2021 (201,998 total 2021-23)
- Lake Monsters are now averaging a league-best 2,280 this season
- Vermont now 6-4 in 1-run games, while falling to 1-12 when scoring 2 runs or less
- 3rd time that the Lake Monsters have been held to 2 hits (July 1st and July 4th)
- 1st game on Sunday, resumption of suspended game at Norwich July 2nd, will begin with 2 outs and 1 runner on in top of 1st inning with the Lake Monsters as road team
- 2nd game Sunday is scheduled for seven innings and Vermont will be home team
Next Game: Sunday vs. Norwich, 4:05pm (9-inning and 7-inning doubleheader)