By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – Bristol America Legion baseball standout Ryan Fradette seemed snake bitten in Post 2’s showdown against West Hartford on Sunday afternoon.

With Bristol trailing 2-0 and two runners on and no outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Fradette launched a line-drive – a tally that could have tied things up.

But the ball was caught in extremely shallow left field and two outs later, Bristol was still trailing by two runs through six.

However, it was payback time in the seventh with West Hartford leading by a 3-0 push.

Again, with Bristol trailing by two and men on second and third, Fradette made a poke towards left field.

But this time, he found pay dirt as the ball skipped by third base as two runners scored and the game-winning hit gave Post 2 a huge 4-3 victory in a Zone 1 showdown from Muzzy Field.

“I think that ball there was a payback for the one he hit the inning before,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta of Fradette’s game-winning hit. “The left fielder was playing like deep-shortstop [in the sixth]. I thought it was a hit for sure and the kid was playing 15 feet behind shortstop [and caught the ball].”

“I always tell the guys to work on quality at-bats. The outcome will even out and there it was.”

Bristol moved to 6-3 overall and 4-3 in Zone 1 play while West Hartford fell to 7-2 overall (6-2 Zone 1).

Offensively, there weren’t many bright spots for Bristol before that final stanza.

Post 2 generated only two hits over those first innings but managed to put baserunners on over the last six stanzas of play as every Bristol batter reached base at least once in the game.

But that big hit never materialized until Post 2 was down to its final out.

Bristol pitching held the fort as Mike Lorenzetti tallied a double-figure strikeout total while Roberto Cruz picked up three critical Ks in relief.

“Obviously, we didn’t play well in the first part of the game,” said LaPenta. “I thought Mike pitched well.”

Lorenzetti earned a tough no decision over his six strong innings, throwing 98 pitches.

He fanned the side in both the third and fifth frames – striking out 11 batters overall.

Lorenzetti allowed two runs on just three hits and while he walked three, none of the batters managed to score.

The win went to Alex Canzellarini who got Alex Ciafone to fly-out to right to close out the top of the seventh – pitching to just one batter in earning the ‘W.’

West Hartford’s Seth Ehrlich fanned six over a three-plus inning stint in relief but in the seventh, he couldn’t generate an out.

Joe Dooley, who was 3-for-3 from the plate with two runs scored and an RBI for West Hartford, lost the game over his 0.2 innings on the hill after reliving Ehrlich.

Lorenzetti generated two strikeouts to open the first inning as Bristol quickly got up to bat.

Bristol then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tilt and the game was afoot.

In the second frame, Dooley popped a double to deep centerfield, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch to make it a 1-0 game.

“They got a run on another passed ball because Mike throws so hard,” said LaPenta. “[Bristol catcher] Nate Ouellette is not used to the velocity, and I thought the umpire missed some calls because of the velocity.”

Post 2 attempted to tie things up in the second as Jack Kozikowski smashed a one-out hit up the middle and advanced to second on a ground-out by Lorenzetti.

But West Hartford starter Drew Seidman (3 IP, two hits, 5 Ks) generated his fourth strikeout of the game to end the inning as Post 96 maintained its 1-0 edge through two.

And then Lorenzetti started to roll, fanning five straight batters, but West Hartford still led by one through three.

Austin Brown dropped in a two-out double in the bottom of the third but did not score while Bristol got in a bit of trouble in the fourth that led to a run by West Hartford.

Seidman eked out a hit to shortstop while Tucker Redden walked on four balls – putting men on first and second with no one out.

Then with one gone, Dooley dropped a ball into left for another two-base hit.

Seidman scored from second base but when Tucker Redden attempted to slide into home, he was gunned down at the plate off a slick tag by Ouellette as the game was a 2-0 affair.

In the Bristol fourth, Fradette drew a one-out walk and when Lorenzetti nabbed ball four, the lead runner stole third to put runners on the corners.

Pinch-runner Tyler Martin ended up stealing second, taking the ‘Bristol pickle’ out of the equation, but Zack Rinkavage struck out to end the fourth as West Hartford took its 2-0 edge into the fifth frame.

Lorenzetti fanned the side in the fifth, collecting his ninth, tenth, and eleventh Ks, but Bristol still had trouble adding a run to the scoreboard.

Evan Bouchard was plunked by pitch but was caught stealing second to end the fifth as Bristol still trailed 2-0.

Lorenzetti ended his day on the hill by retiring seven of the final eight batters he faced as Post 2 had its first two batters reach base in the bottom of the sixth.

Adam Caron and Andrew Lozier waited out back-to-back walks and off a wild pitch, men were on second and third with no one out.

But a fly-out and two strikeouts got West Hartford out of the messy situation as the game remained a 2-0 affair in West Hartford’s favor.

In the seventh, with Cruz on the mound, Dooley smacked out a single and swiped second.

Mike Weiss then struck out but on a passed ball, it was thrown away to first base – allowing Dooley to score – making it a 3-0 contest.

“In the top of the seventh, we gave them four outs,” said LaPenta. “We had two pitch-outs for outs, a pop-up and the ball at first [but] they only got one run out of it.”

And then Post 2 made its comeback in the bottom of the seventh – notching four straight runs to close out the game.

To start the rally, Rinkavage’s grounder was booted at shortstop and when Matt Beaucar slipped an infield hit to short, Bristol had runners on first and second.

And off a slick piece of hitting from Ouellette, his single loaded up the bases as Bristol had the top of the order up with no outs.

Tyler Stickels came into pinch run for Ouellette and West Hartford brought in Dooley to pitch but got into trouble after the first out.

On a full count to Caron, he singled up the middle for Bristol’s first RBI as the deficit was chopped to 3-1 with one gone, the bases still loaded, and the tying run stationed at second base.

Lozier then hit a ball to short right field for the second out, but Beaucar scored from third as the sacrifice fly made it a 3-2 contest.

And then Fradette came to the plate with ducks on the pond.

Bristol had runners on second and third and when Fradette dropped a single past third base, both runners scored as Bristol zipped up a satisfying 4-3, come-from-behind win.

“In the first game at West Hartford, we came back. We didn’t win but we came back,” said LaPenta. “And we had another game when they tied it up in Newington, we could have folded. We came back and scored two more runs [in the eighth to win]. I told the guys there’s a lot of character [here]. The guys have played ball together for a long time, they know each other, and there’s a lot of guys from the junior team that have won state championships. They know how to win.”

“As long as we keep going in the right direction, I think we can do something special at the end of the summer.”

Bristol American Legion, Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game

BRISTOL 4, WEST HARTFORD 3

from Muzzy Field, Bristol

West Hartford (7-2)              010 100 1 – 3 4 1

Bristol (6-3)                            000 000 4 – 4 6 3  

WP: Alex Canzellarini (B); LP: Joe Dooley (WH)

West Hartford Batting 

2B – Joe Dooley (2)

3B – None

HR – None

Bristol Batting 

2B – Austin Brown

3B – None

HR – None

LOB – West Hartford 4; Bristol 6

Records: Bristol 6-3 overall, 4-3 Zone 1; West Hartford 7-2 overall; 6-2 Zone 1