By Sam Trumbley
(New Britain, Conn.) The New Britain Bees defeated the Norwich Sea Unicorns 1–0 in walk-off fashion in Game One of the 2025 Futures Collegiate Baseball League Championship, giving New Britain a 1-0 series lead. Connecticut High School Player of the Year Camden Righi (UConn/Wethersfield, CT) drove in the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.
The Bees’ pitching staff was dominant, combining to allow only five hits and zero runs. The bullpen did not give up a hit. Righi led the way with two of the team’s five hits.
Ben Oliveira (Wheaton/New Bedford, MA) started on the bump for New Britain. He worked out of a few jams early before settling in for a dominant start. Across six scoreless innings, he allowed five hits, striking out four. He kept the Sea Unicorns off the scoreboard despite having runners on third with less than two outs twice.
It was a pitchers’ duel most of the way, with both teams held off the board through seven innings. Norwich’s starter Brendan Grady put together a phenomenal start as well, throwing seven scoreless innings and only allowing one hit. The Bees did not pick up that hit until the bottom of the seventh, when Easton Masse (Boston College/Manchester, CT) dropped a single into center field.
Braden Young (Wheaton/Foxborough, MA) entered in relief of Oliveira and kept the scoreless streak going, throwing two clean innings and striking out one. Evan Mello (Wheaton/New Bedford, MA), the third straight pitcher from Wheaton College, would follow suit with a scoreless ninth.
The top of the Bees’ lineup would head to the plate with zeros on the board in the bottom of the ninth. Righi led off the inning with a booming double to right-center. Tim Hennig (Binghamton/Wantagh, NY) roped a ball two right field with two outs, but a leaping grab from Norwich’s right fielder would send the game to extras.
Jake Harmony (Endicott/Fairfield, CT) took the mound to start the tenth inning and delivered another scoreless inning for New Britain.
Jake Risedorf (Southern N.H./Barkhamsted, CT) would lead off the bottom of the tenth with a single, just the third hit of the night for the Bees. Julius Rosado (Rutgers/South River, N.J.) would follow that up with a huge pinch-hit double to deep center field, bringing the winning run just 90 feet away. Righi walked it off right after with a ground ball up the middle, giving New Britain the win and bringing them a win away from the FCBL Title.
The FCBL Championship continues on Friday, August 15th, when the Bees head to Norwich for Game Two, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. If necessary, Game Three will see the Bees return to New Britain on Saturday, August 16th, with game time to be announced.