By Michael Letendre
The Bristol American Legion baseball team is in action tonight, taking on Simsbury in a huge Zone 1 tilt at 5:30 p.m. from Memorial Field.
Bristol hopes to win its second straight Zone 1 contest while Simsbury is looking to break its 0-2 start to the campaign.
Post 2 is gaining some momentum in Zone 1 contests and snaring a big road victory over the program from Simsbury would give Bristol its third zone victory over its last four games.
The locals are currently 4-3 overall which includes a perfect 2-0 in exhibition contests.
Simsbury and Bristol have plenty of history in Zone 1 battles
During recent years, the biggest rival of the Bristol American Legion baseball team has been the program from Simsbury.
And just about 20 years ago, Bristol got the best of Simsbury in Zone 1 play – nabbing an 11-2 win from Muzzy Field on Tuesday, June 26, 2001.
Post 2 moved to 5-0 in Zone 1 action while Simsbury fell to 4-3.
It was a battle early before Bristol took control of the game offensively.
Simsbury started that showdown with zest, snaring an early 2-0 edge before Bristol scored 11 consecutive runs to close out the contest.
“I’m pleased that we came back,” Bristol coach Jim Ziogas said to me. “We kind of slopped it around out there but we managed to regain our composure.”
Josh Nightingale, Kyle Hackney, and Nick Mullins added two hits apiece to lead the Bristol offense while Mel Davis was a star on the defensive end.
A five-run fourth did-in the visitors as Post 2 padded its lead as the showdown went along.
Bristol pitcher Kevin Kozikowski went the distance as he allowed just the two runs on five hits – earning his second victory of the season.
After two errors led to consecutive runs for Simsbury, giving the visitors a quick 2-0 edge, Bristol went on the attack.
In the bottom of the second inning, Chris Marsh smashed out an RBI single and then an error by the Simsbury shortstop allowed two runners to score in the third tilt as Bristol nabbed a 3-2 push and never looked back.
From the fourth inning on, Post 84 was only able to generate two hits thanks to the outstanding pitching by Kozikowski who settled in nicely while Bristol’s defense made all the big plays behind its pitcher.
That five run fourth made it an 8-2 contest and then a two-run fifth – helped along by an RBI single from Nightingale – pushed the Bristol edge out to 10-2.
And then to close out the contest in the sixth, Hackney drilled an RBI base hit to score the final run of the event as Bristol racked up a huge 11-2 victory.
