HOLYOKE, Mass.- The Norwich baseball team continued their season opening road swing Friday afternoon when they travelled down Interstate 91 to take on Elms in doubleheader action.

After the first two innings went scoreless, the Cadets became the first team to cross home plate in the top of the third, starting with back-to-back base hits by Isaac Maldonado (Miami, Fla.) and Jon Ringer (Cupertino, Calif.). Two batters later, with two down in the inning, John O'Connor (Southington, Conn.) was plunked, setting the stage for back-to-back bases loaded walks to Geffen Franus (Leesburg, Va.) and Brock Carpenter (East Berlin, Pa.) to put Norwich ahead by two.

After Matt Ingraffia (Lake Grove, N.Y.) shut down the Blazers in the bottom of the third, the Cadets would add to their advantage the following frame. Patience at the plate paid off for Norwich, who loaded the bases with consecutive walks and another hit-by-pitch for Dillan Garza (San Antonio, Texas). Garza drove an RBI single to right field to score Jakob Hayes (Arlington, Texas), chasing Elms starter Jack Pesta from the game. With the fresh arm of Luke Guyer in the game, O'Connor would plate Maldonado on an error before another bases loaded free pass to Franus, which pushed the Cadet lead to five.

The Blazers would answer in the bottom of the fifth by tying the game with five runs on six hits which would spell the end of Ingraffia's day on the mound. After his exit, Noah Carpenter (Herkimer, N.Y.) shut down the Elms offense only allowing three hits and a walk in four shutout innings of work.

Soon after the Blazers tied things up, the Cadets would regain the lead in the sixth with Franus driving in Garza and got some insurance in the following inning with Hayes working his way around the bases before coming home on an error. Franus single handedly put the exclamation point on game one with an RBI triple to bring home O'Connor and scoring on a wild pitch, capping off a 9-5 Norwich victory. When all was said and done, Franus went two for three at the dish with two walks, four RBI and a run scored.

Looking to rebound in the latter end of the twin bill, Elms was off and running jumping out to a five-run lead by the end of the second inning. But Norwich would respond in the third, which started with Franus and Carpenter reaching base. Both of whom would be driven home by Joe Grygent (Cataumet, Mass.) to shrink the deficit. Grygent would come home on an RBI single by the following hitter, Michael Sabasteanski (Ashburn, Va.). The hit parade kept coming, as Sabasteanski would come around on a double by Ringer. Norwich would tie the game with Nolan Knight (Altona, N.Y.) scoring Ringer with an RBI single, then would take the lead with Garza plating Knight with an RBI single to round out the six-run inning.

However, the Blazers would respond with eight unanswered runs to distance themselves. Sabasteanski would plate Blaine Butler (Copperas Cove, Texas) in the seventh for his second RBI of the game to round out a contest where him and Ringer finished two for three with a run scored despite the defeat.

The Cadets will continue their road swing Tuesday afternoon when they take on Rivier Wednesday afternoon with first pitch of the doubleheader set for 3 PM.