BURLINGTON – After last year’s disappointment in the Futures League Championship, there was a different sense of urgency for the New Britain Bees on Friday night at Centennial Field in Vermont. The team proved just that, putting up 11 runs in a dominant shutout win over the Lake Monsters to get in the driver’s seat in the series.
The New Britain offense exploded for 15 hits led by a pair of three-hit nights from Kacin Robinson (Stonehill/East Hartford, CT) and Grady Schopps (Salve Regina/Fairifield, CT ). Robinson set the tempo with a pair of walks in his first two at bats followed by a double and a bases clearing triple to break the game open. Schopps drove in the Bees’ 11th run with a single in the eighth inning.
On the mound, Alex Casey (Union/Wobun, MA) tossed three scoreless innings and was the first of six New Britain pitchers to combine for the shutout. The Lake Monsters got a hit with two outs in the ninth after being hitless since the third, finishing off a stretch of 10.2 consecutive hitless innings from the New Britain pen going back to last game.
Tim Hennig (Binghamton/Wantagh, NY) had a pair of extra-base hits in the late going, crushing a triple off the wall in right field in the sixth and blasting his second homer of the summer one frame later. George Slauson (UConn/Plymouth, MA) drove in a pair of runs, including the first of the game in the top of the first.
The win puts the Bees one game away from winning their first championship in franchise history and have a chance to do so in front of the home crowd on Saturday night at 6:35 PM. Admission is free for all fans, so come on out to the ballpark and watch a chance at history!