NEW BRITAIN – For the second consecutive summer, the New Britain Bees are going to the Futures League Championship!
Five hitless innings from Thomas Harding (St. John’s/Massapequa, NY) to close the game and a huge two-run double from Vinny Lombardo (UConn/Trumbull, CT) carried the Bees back to the promised land, finishing off a 2-1 series win over the Sea Unicorns with a 4-2 victory in front of a great crowd at New Britain Stadium.
Brandon Cahill (Monmouth/Meriden, CT) set the tempo on the mound, throwing four strong innings with five punchouts in one of his best outings of the summer. He gave the Bees exactly what they were looking for to gain momentum in the early innings.
The first Bees run came across to score in the bottom of the fourth when the team responded to a pair of Norwich runs with an RBI double from Grady Schopps (Salve Regina/Fairfield, CT). The next half inning was when Lombardo made his impact, driving the ninth pitch of the at bat into the right-center gap to give the Bees a 3-2 lead, an advantage they wouldn’t squander.
Tyler Garbooshian (Rutgers/Brick, NJ) added some insurance in the seventh, lining an RBI single to center field to give the Bees a cushion. With how Harding was dealing, he didn’t even need one. The left hander retired the first 14 batters he faced before surrendering a two-out walk in the ninth, just for Dylan Swarts (Union/Chester, NJ) to make a challenging catch in foul ground to secure the victory on the next batter.
New Britain advances to its second championship in franchise history, looking to squash last year’s result and win the title. The win also snapped Norwich’s historic quest for a fourth straight championship, knocking the Sea Unicorns out of the playoffs for the first time since 2022.
The championship schedule is still to be determined pending the result of Game 3 in Burlington on Thursday night between Vermont and Worcester. If Vermont wins, the three-game finals would go Vermont-New Britain-Vermont for home games. If Worcester wins, it would go New Britain-Worcester-New Britain. Either way, the championship series will be Friday-Saturday-Sunday.