NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich baseball team returned to campus for their home opener against Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) foe Colby-Sawyer on a cloudy day with wind gusts picking up and the occasional precipitation.

Early in the opening contest of the day, the Cadets showed off the defense early. With a runner on second and one out, Charger catcher Noah Staffier singled to centerfield. The runner, Sean Roeger, was waved around third and headed home, but was cut down by the arm of Tyler Callahan (Arlington, Mass.). Minutes later, with Staffier on second, Callahan gunned him down at third as he attempted to advance on an errant pickoff attempt to end that threat.

Soon after, the floodgates would open as Norwich would plate all nine of their runs in the third, which opened with back-to-back base hits for John O'Connor (Southington, Conn.) and Geffen Franus (Leesburg, Va.). A third straight hit by Brock Carpenter (East Berlin, Pa.) broke the ice by bringing O'Connor home from second. Isaac Maldonado (Miami, Fla.) followed with an RBI double down the left field line to drive in Franus which was followed by a two RBI single for Jakob Hayes (Arlington, Texas) and an RBI single Callahan. The hit parade continued with an RBI double to deep center by Jon Ringer (Cupertino, Calif.), turning the lineup over to leadoff man Kevin Ohlsen (Shirley, N.Y.) who shot the left center field gap with a two RBI double of his own, and was brought home by O'Connor for the final run of the inning.

The Charger bats were kept in check by the left arm of Matt Ingraffia (Lake Grove, N.Y.), who settled in after a bumpy start and keeping them off the scoreboard until the sixth, only allowing four hits to that point. Colby-Sawyer would score four runs in the seventh chasing Ingraffia, by which time he accumulated eight strikeouts.

In the eighth, the Chargers closed the gap to three and threatened for more, but David Cooper (Stockton, N.J.) got Cooper O'Brien to fly out. In the ninth, Colby-Sawyer would bring the tying run to the plate, but the rally was stymied by a game ending caught stealing at second base to seal the 9-6 Norwich win, and Noah Carpenter's (Herkimer, N.Y.) first save if the season. Offensively, Brock Carpenter finished game one four for five, O'Connor went two for four, Franus went two for five and Dillan Garza (San Antonio, Texas) went two for three.

Looking to respond in game two, the Chargers jumped ahead early and would take an eight-run advantage by the end of the fifth and tacked on a ninth run in the eighth. Norwich broke the shutout in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI groundout by O'Connor bringing home Owen Silk (North Haven, Conn.). The Cadets closed the gap in the ninth with four runs with RBIs coming from Michael Sabasteanski (Ashburn, Va.), Silk, and back-to-back sacrifice flies from Garza and Ohlsen to close the gap to 9-5 where Silk and O'Connor would finish with multi hit games.

The Cadets will return to the Garrity Field diamond Sunday afternoon for another GNAC twin bill with Lasell starting at 1 PM.