Bees Fall In Pitcher’s Duel In First Game Back From Roadtrip

By Brendan Lasbury

(New Britain, Conn.) The New Britain Bees fell in their return home on Friday, losing to the Nashua Silver Knights 2-1.

Pitching was the story of early on for both sides, as both teams held steady giving up a combined four hits and no runs through the first five innings as neither team could threaten on offense.

New Britain went with a bullpen game, using three different pitchers in the first four innings. Garret Garbinski (UConn/Clinton, CT) had a clean first and Adam Merritt (UMass Amherst/West Hartford, CT) had 4 strikeouts in his two innings of work.

Easton Masse (Boston College/Manchester, CT) would continue his stellar defense behind the plate, throwing out a runner stealing second in the top of the sixth.

The Bees would strike in the bottom of the sixth. Masse reached on an error and advanced to second on a balk. Left fielder Brennan Staubley (Southern CT State/Plainville, CT) brought home Masse with a double to right field, as #1 would give the Bees their first run and make it a 1-0 game.

The Silver Knights would then strike back in the top of the eighth. After two Silver Knight hitters were hit by pitches and one was walked to load the bases, a two-run single put them in front and they never looked back from there.

New Britain would fail to generate offense for the rest of the game. Nashua took home the victory 2-1 to move to 11-8 on the season.

The Bees drop down to 8-13, good for fifth in the Futures League. New Britain is back in action tomorrow night at home when it takes on the top-seeded Worcester Bravehearts. First pitch set for 6:35 p.m. at New Britain Stadium.