By Michael Letendre

AVON – A tough day in the field never allowed the Bristol American Legion baseball team an inlet in its showdown at Avon on Tuesday, eventually falling by a 10-1 final in a Zone 1 contest from Buckingham Park. 

Bristol fell to 2-2 overall and 0-2 in Zone 1 play while the contest for Avon was its first game of the season.

Post 2 played with a rag-tag line-up at several defensive positions which helped create a bit of havoc all over the field.

“I was missing four starters because of graduation,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. 

Andrew Lozier and newcomer Owen Davis were competing at the All-State games, Matt Beaucar attended a wrestling banquet and then the pitcher who was going to start on the mound for Post 2 quit the team.

LaPenta had to mix and match players, some who haven’t played in a certain position in years, and that unfamiliarity led to several errors.

Even after all that tomfoolery, Post 2 was hanging around through five frames of play – trailing just 3-1.

“I had people totally out of position,” said LaPenta. “But we were still in the game.”

Bristol’s Dylan Woodsome battled the entire afternoon, allowing minimal hits through his three-plus innings of work on the mound but drew a tough loss.

The third inning was a certifiable nightmare for the Post 2 defense as the outfit committed several errors.

Despite the miscues, Bristol’s defense made a couple big putouts as the home squad scored just a single run as Avon was only ahead by a run.

But a seven run sixth stanza ended any chance of a Post 2 comeback bid.

Winning pitcher Daniel Bae won the game – chucking five innings and needing just 59 pitches over those frames.

Post 2 started the game with zest as Austin Brown (2-for-2, sac bunt) and Adam Caron (2-for-3, RBI) eked out back-to-back infield singles before the duo advanced a base via a passed ball as two men were in scoring position with no one out.

But a line drive by Zach Rinkavage was snuffed out by Avon’s Christian Boudreau who then caught Caron off second base for a bang-bang double play and the home squad was quickly up to bat.

Avon leadoff hitter Max Raha walked to open the bottom of the first, attempted to advance off a passed ball, and just made into second base as the tag was just off the mark.

Raha stole third and scored on a ground-out from Christian Boudreay as the home team scooped up a one-run lead. 

Bristol’s Ryan Fradette started the second stanza with a single up the middle but was out at second base when Tyler Stickels grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Stickels eventually stole second and moved to third on a Jack Kozikowski grounder but never advanced home.

Woodsome got into a nice groove in the bottom of the second, eventually retiring five straight batters with Post 2 trailing 1-0 as the third inning commenced.

Bristol got right to work as Trevor Nohilly smacked a base hit to deep second base and when Brown bunted, the ball was thrown away at first as the lead runner hustled into third.

From there, Caron snuck a single to center, plating Nohilly, as the game was suddenly tied at 1-1.

A 6-4-3 double play and a groundout kept the contest a 1-1 affair as Post 201 was about to scoop up the lead for good.

To open the bottom of the third, Tyler Nyberg’s grounder was thrown away at first as Avon had a man in scoring position right off the bat.

And when Nyberg stole third, the ball was thrown away as the runner scored easily – making it a 2-1 contest.

Even as Avon got additional runners on base via a couple hits, miscues, and gaffes, Raha was caught stealing second, Boudreau was picked off second and tagged out by Stickels and when Bae flew out to right, Bristol trailed by just a 2-1 push.

Bae had a very good top of the fourth, picking two Ks as Post 201 maintained its 2-1 edge.

Avon’s Dylan Love was plunked by a pitch to open the fourth, Nick Amatulli drew a walk and when Daniel Galliher sacrificed the duo over, Tyler Martin relived Woodsome on the mound with one out.

On a full count, Martin fanned Luke Coppen, but Bristol second baseman Roberto Cruz was hurt fielding a grounder to second by Nyberg, allowing Love to score from third as Avon scooped up a 3-1 lead.

“Second and third, no outs in the first inning, [we’ve] got to score,” said LaPenta. “A couple miscues in the field gave them runs they shouldn’t have gotten. Roberto [Cruz] had the bad hamstring from high school. [If] he fields the ball, it [would still be] 2-1. But he bends over, strains it, [and the ball] goes under his legs. There goes another run.”

But an interference call ended the inning with Post 201 ahead by a 3-1 tally.

Bristol refused to yield and with one gone in the fifth as Nohilly’s chopper to second was thrown away and then Brown slammed a long single to centerfield which should have put two runners on with the go-ahead run at the dish.

But Brown thought the ball was caught and started jogging away from first base.

During the confusion, Brown was eventually tagged out and when Caron flew out to center – which would have been a sacrifice situation for Nohilly if Brown was still at first – and the Bristol deficit was still 3-1.

Post 2 put together another 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth as the defense helped Martin out and Bristol was going to bat against a new pitcher.

Ben Angus (two innings, four Ks) came into pitch to start the Avon sixth and shut down the side in order while Martin walked leadoff batter Dylan Love to open the bottom of the tilt.

A wild pitch advanced the runner to second with one out and Galliher slipped in a deep infield hit to shortstop as Post 201 had runners on the corners.

A passed ball scored Love to make it 4-1 while consecutive walks to Copper and Nyberg loaded the bases up – still with just one out.

Zach Rinkavage then came in to throw and a botched pickoff attempt at second allowed Galliher to score as Bristol trailed 5-1.

With the bases juiced, Emmett Borenstein (two doubles) cleared the bases with a deep two-base hit to center as Avon’s advantage was pushed to 7-1.

Eventually, three additional runs scored – making it a 10-1 game – as Evan Bouchard took his turn on the hill.

He generated one final fly-out as Post 2 had one last crack at the plate.

Jack Kozikowski nabbed a one-out hit to left in the top of the seventh but never came home to score as Bristol dropped a tough 10-1 final to Avon.

“We were limited,’ said LaPenta. “It was just an all-around ugly game and I just told [the players after the game] I can live with it but there just wasn’t a lot of passion, even in the beginning of the game.”

“[But] I still believe the team has plenty of talent [to win this season].”

Bristol American Legion Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game

AVON 10, BRISTOL 1

from Buckingham Park, Avon

Bristol (2-2)    001 000 0 – 1 7 7

Avon (1-0)      101 107 x – 10 6 2 

WP: Daniel Bae (WH); LP: Dylan Woodsome (B) 

Bristol Batting 

2B – None

3B – None

HR – None

Avon Batting 

2B – Emmett Borenstein (2)

3B – None

HR – None

Records: Avon 1-0 Zone 1; Bristol 2-2 overall, 0-2 Zone 1