Norwich back to winning ways over the weekend

Following a four-game losing streak, the Norwich Sea Unicorns have won three of their last four games, placing the squad a game out of playoff contention at the quarter mark of the season.

The turnaround began on Thursday night as Norwich welcomed the Nashua Silver Knights to Dodd Stadium for the first matchup of the season between the two sides.

Nashua jumped out to an early lead before Norwich knotted things up at three through the third inning.

The Sea Unicorns bullpen took over from the third inning on, shutting down the Silver Knights' bats. Four Norwich bullpen arms allowed one run in seven and two-thirds innings of work, striking out nine along the way.

Offensively, the Sea Unicorns’ lineup put up eight runs on 14 hits in the 8-4 victory. All nine starters reached base at least once, and the two through five hitters combined to go 10 for 18, scoring four runs and driving in another three.

Friday night’s win at Worcester was the same result but a different story for Norwich. Despite the offense collecting just two hits, the Sea Unicorns were able to nab the 1-0 win thanks in large part to starting pitcher Connor Podeszwa.

Podeszwa was brilliant in his third start of the season, allowing four baserunners to reach base across seven innings. He fanned five Bravehearts hitters and faced three over the minimum, collecting his first win of the summer.

Podeszwa’s efforts earned him Futures League pitcher of the week honors which the league announced Monday.

The New Britain Bees came to town on Saturday night for the fourth meeting between the two Connecticut teams. New Britain handed Norwich its lone defeat of the weekend, a 4-2 extra-inning triumph for the Bees.

Tyler Kipp stayed hot at the plate with a two-hit performance, but the rest of the offense couldn’t get things going, striking out 13 times.

With the game tied at two in the bottom of the ninth, Norwich had the winning run on second base with one away but was unable to bring it in for the walk-off win.

In the 10th, Anthony Depino drove a 1-2 fastball over the left field fence to give the Bees a 4-2 lead. The Sea Unicorns brought the winning run to the plate in the bottom half of the inning but didn’t do any damage, giving New Britain the victory and evening the season series at two apiece.

A quick turnaround on Sunday didn’t haunt Norwich as it came out on top of a slugfest against the Brockton Rox.

Brockton led 4-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth, where Norwich scored four runs in the inning to tie the game, highlighted by Jackson Ferrigno’s two-run double that tied the game.

The Rox regained the lead with a run in the seventh, but the Sea Unicorns answered right back, bringing three runs across to take a 7-5 lead.

Zachary Lopez slammed the door in the final two frames for the six-out save, striking out four Rox batters along the way,

The Sea Unicorns sit in fifth place at 6-9 heading into the third full week of the season. They’ll welcome the Westfield Starfires to Dodd Stadium Tuesday night for a 6:30 pm matchup.