NORTHFIELD, Vt.- The Norwich Baseball team took to their home diamond for the first time this season with a pair of Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) contests against Rivier, which the Cadets would sweep. The opener was a marathon of a contest that lasted four hours and nine minutes before a walk-off solo home run by Geffen Franus (Leesburg, Va.) clinched the win in the bottom of the thirteenth.

The Raiders got off to a hot start in game one, taking a 5-0 lead by the middle of the fifth, ending the day on the mound for Ryan Miller (Westhampton, N.Y.) with only one of those runs being earned. In the bottom of the fifth, Norwich closed the gap. Isaac Maldonado (Miami, Fla.) led off the innings with a double down the left field line. After he moved to third on a wild pitch, Franus drew a walk before Maldonado came home on a sacrifice fly by John O'Connor (Southington, Conn.). Franus was balked over to third before Miller brought him home with a single to close the gap to three.

Rivier added another run in the sixth, before the Cadets jumped ahead with a six-run sixth, which opened with a Jakob Hayes (Arlington, Texas) double. Two batters later, Maldonado brought Hayes in with an RBI single, who then came home on a Franus RBI single after stealing second. With two down, the hit parade continued as Miller doubled home Franus, followed by a Brock Carpenter (East Berlin, Pa.) RBI single. The exclamation point of the inning came on a two-run home run by Michael Sabasteanski (Ashburn, Va.), the first of his collegiate career, to put Norwich up by two.

In the seventh, the Raiders answered with two runs, tying the game. Both pitching staffs held serve, eventually sending the game into extra innings. The stalemate continued into the twelfth inning, where Rivier grabbed the lead, but Norwich would answer. A two-out double down the line by Jack Medhurst (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) set the table for Eli Oliver (East Montpelier, Vt.) to drive him in, re-tying the game. Rivier was held off the scoreboard in the 13^th. After the leadoff batter in the home half flied out, Franus lifted the first pitch he saw over the left field fence, giving the Cadets the walk-off win.

After coming on in relief in the seventh inning, Nathan Abbott (Durham, Maine) was instrumental in the effort. In the final seven innings of the contest, Abbott pitched them all, allowing one run while striking out five, earning the win. At the plate, Franus (3-6, 3 Runs, 2 Walks, 2 RBIs, Home Run), Maldonado (2-4, 2 Runs, RBI), and Carpenter (3-7, Run, RBI) led the way in a game where Norwich stole seven bases.

The Cadets kept the momentum in game two, plating four runs in the second. Back-to-back singles by Miller and Oliver and a hit-by-pitch to Sabasteanski loaded the bases with no outs, leading to Miller coming home on a wild pitch. Kevin Ohlsen (Shirley, N.Y.) brought home Oliver with an RBI single. Two batters later, Dillan Garza (San Antonio, Texas) scored Sabasteanski with a fielder's choice, before motoring home from first on a Maldonado RBI single.

In the fifth, Norwich doubled their lead with four more runs. Franus and O'Connor started it off with a single and a free pass. With the bases loaded, Sabasteanski brought home Franus on a fielder's choice. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Medhurst who drove home both Sabasteanski and O'Connor with a single, which was followed by a Garza RBI single to plate Ohlsen. The Raiders cut the lead in half by the end of the seventh, before Norwich scratched across another run, bringing the score to its final margin of 9-4 before the game was called off due to darkness.

On the mound, Noah Carpenter (Herkimer, N.Y.) was steady, only allowing one Rivier run in five innings, striking out four, and earning the victory. Isaac Parker (Jay, Maine) closed things out with two scoreless innings of his own. At the plate, Franus (2-4, Run), Garza (2-4, Run, 2 RBI), and Medhurst (1-3, 2 RBI) led the way.

Norwich will continue GNAC play when they host Elms on April 1 at 3:30, continuing a brief homestand.