By Sam Trumbley
(New Britain, Conn.) The New Britain Bees defeated the Nashua Silver Knights 7-4 in a back-and-forth affair, helped by a two-run homer from Camden Righi. The Bees improve to 16-17 on the season.
Carson Parrott (Tennessee Tech/Monroe, TN) started on the bump for the Bees. He threw four hitless innings, only allowing one baserunner and striking out one. That lowered his ERA to 2.08 on the season, which is the lowest among Bees’ pitchers 22 or more innings pitched.
The Bees took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after Brennan Staubley (Southern CT State/Plainville, CT) drove in Colin Crowley (Winthrop/Southington, CT). The RBI single tied Staubley with Crowley for the team lead at 13.
Joe DiRienzo (Salve Regina/Trumbull, CT) entered in relief to start the fifth inning. The Silver Knights would strike back to take the lead, pushing two across on a wild pitch and a fielder’s choice. He would end the day with two innings pitched, two runs allowed (one earned), and one walk.
New Britain would even the game at two in the bottom of the sixth with back-to-back doubles. Camden Righi (UConn/Wethersfield, CT) opened the inning with a shot to right center on the first pitch he saw, then PJ Hughes (Richmond/Manhattan, KS) drove him in with a line drive down the left field line. The Bees would take the lead with two outs when Carlos Irizarry (Penn State Harrisburg/Chantilly, VA) worked an RBI walk, bringing in Staubley.
Nashua would strike back again, pushing one across against Fayz Baig (LIU/Marlborough, CT), who entered in relief of DiRienzo.
After six and a half innings of back-and-forth baseball, the Bees would break the 3-3 tie with a two-run blast off the bat of Camden Righi. It was Righi’s third homer of the year and only the second one hit by the Bees in New Britain Stadium this season.
The Silver Knights cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth against Ty Davis (Bryant/Bristol, CT), but a sac fly from Righi and an RBI single from Hughes would give the Bees enough insurance to close out the win.
The top four of the Bees’ lineup dominated, combining for eight hits and six RBIs. Righi was the standout, finishing the day two for four with three runs batted in. Hughes, Crowley, and Staubley also recorded multiple hits. Irizarry led the team with two walks.
The Bees will continue their stretch of home games this week, with contests every day from Tuesday, July 8th, to Saturday, July 12th! Click the link below for tickets or visit the box office before the game!