By Michael Letendre
SIMSBURY – The Bristol American Legion baseball posted several crooked numbers on the scoreboard over its shutout against Simsbury on Thursday – nabbing runs over the third, fourth, fifth and sixth frames – in belting Post 84 by a 10-0 mercy ruled final from Memorial Field in Simsbury.
Bristol moved to 5-3 overall and 3-3 Zone 1 play while Simsbury fell to 0-3 overall over the six-inning challenge.
“It’s one of those games we had to win,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “Teams that we’re supposed to beat we have to beat. Simsbury is down a little bit this year and we had to beat them.”
Bristol pitcher Andrew Lozier didn’t allow Simsbury much in terms of offense as he moved to 2-0 on the season.
He held Post 84 to just two hits while fanning a batter in each inning he pitched – generated six strikeouts overall.
“I thought Andrew pitched well,” said LaPenta. “I didn’t think he had his best stuff, but he threw well. He didn’t have great command of his fastball, but he had good command on his curveball.”
The 10 runs and 11 hits were both season-highs for the Bristol program this season.
And after leaving men on base over the first two innings, Post 2 made Simsbury pay for such occurrences the rest of the way.
In the third inning of the scoreless affair, Bristol went on the attack as the visiting outfit went for five runs to blow open the game.
Dylan Woodsome (1-for-2, two runs) earned a four-ball walk and when Austin Brown (walk, two runs) laid down a perfect bunt, the defense had trouble fielding it.
Brown easily made it to first base and on the play, with no one covering third, Woodsome snagged an extra base.
A wild pitch eventually scored Woodsome to make it a 1-0 game.
Then Adam Caron (3-for-4, RBI) made Post 84 pay as he dropped a base hit into left-center, scoring Brown, to make it a 2-0 score in Bristol’s favor.
Ryan Fradette (2-for-4, two RBI) followed up with a base hit as two were on with one out.
Zack Rinkavage (1-for-2, double, RBI) drew a full count walk to load the bases and Evan Bouchard (single, two runs) dropped a grounder to third.
The third baseman stepped on the bag for the second out as Caron scored to make it a 3-0 game on the RBI tally.
But on the play, when the ball was thrown away at first base, another run scored.
Bouchard ended up on third base off the miscue as Post 2’s lead reached 4-0.
Owen Davis (2-for-3) then roped a single by the second baseman as Bouchard tagged the dish – posting the visitors to an imposing 5-0 cushion.
Lozier needed just 11 pitches to retire Simsbury in order in the bottom of the third while Woodsome was up to his old tricks to open the fourth.
He dropped a short hopper into center as Post 2 was looking to pad its lead.
Brown followed up with a walk as relief Post 84 pitcher Daniel Fritz was under fire.
A ground-out by Caron advanced the runners and with two gone, Fradette powered a double to left – clearing the bases in the process – as Bristol led it, 7-0.
“I thought the biggest hit of the game was Ryan’s two-out double in the fourth,” said LaPenta. “We had two guys on and no outs. We squandered it. We had second and third with no outs and didn’t do anything and then [Fradette] got a big two-out hit. Those two runs turned it into seven.”
Simsbury’s Jack Daley nabbed a two-out single in the bottom of the fourth but Lozier fanned Morgan Rybczyk to end the frame.
The hit parade continued into the fifth for Bristol as Bouchard started the inning with a single into short left and Davis followed with an infield hit to shortstop.
But when the ball was thrown away, Bouchard scored, and Bristol’s lead reached 8-0.
“We didn’t do too much in the beginning there, but I told [the players] when we got up 5-0, we’ve got to keep adding on,” said LaPenta. “That kind of took all the life out of [Simsbury].”
With two away in the Simsbury fifth, Kevin Gallagher walked, stole second, but was caught stealing third on a pickoff attempt – keeping it an 8-0 contest in Bristol’s favor.
Caron generated his third single of the game to open the sixth, went to second via a wild pitch and when Lozier shipped a double to right, the lead runner easily scored as Post 2 squared up a 9-0 lead.
Rinkavage followed up with a deep-dish double to center and when Lozier came home, it was a 10-0 contest.
Simsbury had to score at least one run in the bottom of the sixth with the mercy rule looming but did not.
Chris Stamboli walked to open the frame but three outs later, he was glued to third base as Bristol earned the shutout win, via the 10-0 triumph over Simsbury.
“Everybody got into the game a little bit,” said LaPenta. “We’ll have a couple days off because we’ll play Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday [next week]. So, we’ll have four games in five days.”
Bristol American Legion, Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game
BRISTOL 10, SIMSBURY 0 (6)
from Memorial Field, Simsbury
Bristol (5-3) 005 212 – 10 11 0
Simsbury (0-3) 000 000 – 0 2 3
WP: Andrew Lozier(B, 2-0); LP: Dan Gorham (S)
Bristol Batting
2B – Ryan Fradette, Andrew Lozier, Zack Rinkavage
3B – None
HR – None
Simsbury Batting
2B – Matt Ferro
3B – None
HR – None
Records: Bristol 5-3 overall, 3-3 Zone 1; Simsbury 0-3 overall
