WESTFIELD, MA – The New Britain Bees continued their hottest start in recent memory on Tuesday morning, knocking off the Westfield Starfires SCORE at Bullens Field to move to 8-3 on the young season.
The offense struck early for New Britain, as Jack Kane (St. Joseph CT/West Hartford, CT) drove in a run with an RBI single to right field. Westfield responded in the second with a rally to plate three runs, but it could have been more if not for a highlight diving catch by Amato Civitello (UConn/East Haven, CT) on a shallow fly ball to right.
Trailing by two, George Slauson (UConn/Plymouth, MA) stepped to the dish and blasted his first home run of the summer to tie the game at three in the third inning. Slauson hit two homers in eight games at the end of last summer, including a three-run shot in the FCBL Championship against Norwich.
After the Slauson blast, the scoring hit a standstill as the two sides traded zeroes. Braden Young (Wheaton/Foxborough, MA) and Cam Freeman (Fairfield/Longmeadow, MA) combined to throw 4.1 scoreless innings after starter Tanner Wall (Western New England/Brookfield, CT) departed in the second inning with an injury. After six, the score was still tied up at three.
Fayz Baig (CCSU/Marlborough, CT) took over in the seventh and pitched a pair of innings, surrendering the lead but striking out four and limiting the damage to just two runs. With the Bees trailing 5-3 entering the ninth inning, yet another memorable rally ensued for the top team in the Futures League.
It started with a walk from Owen Rich (Binghamton/Wallingford, CT) and a single down the left field line from Civitello. Slauson would then drive in his third run of the day with an RBI single, followed by a Grant Werdesheim (Princeton/Studio City, CA) walk. Two batters later, Jackson Wein (Stevens Institute of Tech./Bethel, CT) bounced into a game-tying fielder’s choice, beating the throw to first. Finally, the big swing happened. Rafael Rodriguez Rosa (Franklin Pierce/Meriden, CT) laced a two-run single to put New Britain in front 7-5, completing the hard-fought ninth inning comeback.
James Fagnant (UConn Avery Point/East Granby, CT) came on and tossed a scoreless bottom of the ninth for his first save of the season, closing the eighth win of the season for the Bees in just 11 games.
The Bees return to action on Wednesday night when they make the short trip to Norwich for a bout with the Sea Unicorns before returning home for a long home stand, starting with a game against the Bravehearts on Thursday and a three-game set with the Lake Monsters over the weekend.