Trojans’ early lead beats Afton
NORWICH – The Purple Tornado’s Nate Thorpe picked up the win, a first for the Norwich baseball team this season, with his arm on the hill Wednesday afternoon at home. The Tornado defeated Chenango Forks 5-2 with the effort on both sides of the ball to support their pitcher, who threw a gem.
Thorpe went four innings with two hit and one run scored before an error in the top of the fifth scored the second Blue Devils’ run of the game. He threw two strikeouts in the process while his defense fielded the ball well to put out the other batters.
“Nate [Thorpe] tossed a great game for us on the mound,” said Norwich head coach Rich Turnbull. “He made the other team put the ball in play and our fielder’s were able to make the plays to get us out of each inning.”
Forks scored a run in the top of the first when lead-off hitter Ethan Cetton got on base with a single on a 0-1 count pitch. Cetton then stole second and advanced a base when teammate Matt Conklin hit the ball back to Thorpe.
With time to get the runner out at first, Thorpe picked up the out. The Blue Devils’ Bryan Haskell then drove a fly ball out to centerfield, scoring Cetton on a sacrafice fly out.
Thorpe closed out the first with a five pitch strikeout, sending Norwich to the batter’s box for the bottom half of the inning.
JT Vinal of the Tornado got things going for the home team with a walk as the second batter to the plate. He then slid into second safely for a steal, reaching scoring position for teammate Jordan Jacquette.
With a 2-1 count in his at-bat, Jacquette lined a shot out to left-center, scoring Vinal to tie the game at 1-1.
Norwich had a big offensive inning in the fourth, scoring three of their five as they nearly batted threw the line-up. In the frame, Kegan Wright and Justin Bates each drew walks and scored a run in the inning. Chenango Forks committed two errors during the rally.
The Tornado tacked on the their final run in the sixth as Marcus Cashman scored after leading off the bottom half of the inning with a double. Norwich record just two hits in the game.
Cashman took the hill to finish the game, picking up the save in the game. He struck out seven Blue Devil batters in three innings of relief.
Cetton was the starting pitcher for Forks, tossing for five innings in the loss. He struck out four in the process. Josh Finch recorded the final three outs of the game in the field for the Blue Devils with two strike outs.
“It felt great to get that monkey off our back and get that first win of the season,” said Turnbull. “We hope we can keep it going for the rest of the season.”
Norwich takes on Oneonta at home Thursday afternoon, a game that was originally scheduled for Friday but is being moved up a day due to the weather forecast. The first time the two teams played this season, Norwich fell to the Yellowjackets 3-2 due to a walk-off hit.
The Tornado will likely see Oneonta’s Teddy McGraw on the mound. McGraw, a Wake Forest commit, is the Yellowjackets ace on the mound this season.
Game is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m.
Norwich 5, Chenango Forks 2
Forks 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 – 2 3 3
Norwich 1 0 0 3 0 1 x – 5 2 4
