By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – The Mum City once again has a squad playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League as the Bristol Blues are one of 14 squads competing in 2021.
The season is comprised of 44 games over an eight week stretch and once August rolls around, the playoffs begin.
The NECBL is one of the top summer leagues around and since 1993, some of the nation’s top collegiate players compete there.
But it’s been a tough start to the season for the newest NECBL franchise.
Currently, the Blues reside in last place in the Southern Division at 3-10.
The Newport Gulls (7-3) leads the Blues’ division in the South while the Upper Valley Nighthawks and Vermont Mountaineers (7-4) head the pack in the North Division.
Bristol is 5.5 games behind the Gulls.
Currently, there are ten players on this squad who are from Connecticut.
The Blues are represented by the towns of Waterbury, Rockville, Lakeside, Bethel, Westport, Madison, Bloomfield, Avon, Glastonbury, and Woodbridge.
And in this league, every New England state has a franchise.
Besides the Blues, the Mystic Schooners (Groton) and Danbury Westerners all are from Connecticut.
The other 11 programs are in Massachusetts (four teams), Vermont (two), New Hampshire (two), Rhode Island (two), and Maine (one).
Muzzy Field is the largest venue in the NECBL with a 4,900-seating capacity while the Keene Swamp Rats compete at Alumni Field in New Hampshire (4,800).
Originally, Bristol had an NECBL franchise in 2010 that lasted one season as the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club.
That team became the Mystic Schooners, an opponent Bristol has been competing against this season.
And the first Bristol team in the NECBL was the Bristol Nighthawks in the mid-1990s.
The Season to Date for the Blues
After dropping its first game, the Blues defeated OceanState by an 8-6 on June 4.
Bristol scored four runs in both the first and third frames to secure the victory from Muzzy Field.
Mark Faello won the game for the Blues, going five innings, allowing six hits, three earned runs while striking out five.
James Kirkpatrick grabbed the save over a one inning, two strikeout effort.
The Blues racked up seven hits as Theodore Hague and Tyler Keith had two apiece.
Brock Murtha walked three times as the Blues netted 12 total base-on-balls.
From there, Bristol dropped nine straight games before ramping up consecutive victories – both from Muzzy Field.
This past Friday, the Blues defeated Newport 6-5 and then on Saturday, the Blues were 5-3 winners over Vineyard.
Against the Mystics, the home team fell behind by a 5-0 push over the first three innings of play.
Bristol notched single runs in the fourth and fifth frames to put a dent in the deficit.
And then the locals bombed the Schooners for four runs in the seventh to steal away the game.
A huge two-run homer by Brennen Dorighi in the seventh stanza helped set the wheels in motion over what turned into an epic comeback by Bristol.
Christian Fedko and Keith each tallied two hits over the wining effort.
Justin Humenay won the game for the Blues, pitching a scoreless seventh frame that included a strikeout.
And then a four run seventh fueled the Blues in the two-run victory over the Sharks.
Fedko and Murtha each smacked out two hits while Keith added his third double of the season, collecting two RBI in the process.
Jacob Moskowitz won the contest in relief, tossing 1.1 innings that included one K.
Over its three wins this season, Bristol has beaten those opponents by a total of five runs.
Upcoming Schedule
The Blues battle Valley tonight at 5:05 p.m. from McKenzie Stadium but three of the next four games for the locals will be played in Bristol.
On Tuesday, the Blues tangles with OceanState (6:30 p.m.) before playing the same squad over a home-and-home challenge on Wednesday.
Bristol has Thursday off before battling Mystic on Friday and Danbury on Saturday from Muzzy Field.
Both games commence at 6:30 p.m.
