By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – The Bristol and Meriden American Legion baseball teams battled to a 4-4 stalemate going into the seventh inning of its Zone 1 showdown from Muzzy Field in Bristol on Thursday evening.

And it was anyone’s game.

But Post 45 put a five spot on the board in the seventh – taking advantage of several gaffes and miscues by Bristol – as Meriden squared up a 9-4 victory on the road.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “We had some clutch hits early on. Ryan [Fradette] had a nice hit with two outs with guys in scoring position [in the fifth inning]. And it just comes down to execution. We didn’t execute.”

Meriden moved to 6-3 overall, 6-2 in Zone 1 play while Bristol fell to 8-4 overall (6-4 Zone 1).

Post 45 is on a five-game winning streak, the hottest team in the zone, since losing a 6-3 contest to Bristol back on June 17 in Meriden. 

Bristol’s Andrew Lozier battled into the sixth from the mound, allowing four runs on 11 hits in 5.2 innings of work and was later relieved by Alex Canzellarini. 

The starter earned a no-decision as Canzellarini drew a tough loss.

In the end, Bristol’s defense faltered as six errors helped Meriden score several unearned runs.

Despite those miscues, Post 2 was in the contest until the end as the squads were all tied up through six stanzas.

“I thought we played well,” said LaPenta. “We have been playing well. We just didn’t execute and you’re not winning anything when you put up six errors on the board.”

Post 45 pitcher Ryan Killeen did a tremendous job, allowing just four hits, while earning the victory over six strong innings.

And Meriden was off and running to open play. 

Max Giacco (2-for-4) started the game with a flare to left and attempted to go for two bases.

But trying to test Jack Kozikowski’s arm was a mistake as he easily gunned down the runner at second base for the first out of the game.

Lozier took care of business from there and got Post 2 out of the inning in a hurry.

And it was a scoreless affair going into the third inning before Post 2 got onto the scoreboard first.

Meriden’s Ted Haniewski (3-for-3, walk) singled to open the third and when Wes Deno sacrificed him over to second, a runner was in scoring position.

From there, Connor Bennett (2-for-3, RBI) unleashed an infield hit to shortstop that put runners on the corners.

Bennett then stole second and Bristol intentionally walked Max Giacco to load the bases.

But Javon Malone struck out and Evan Avery flew out to Kozikowski as Meriden stranded three runners.

To start the bottom of the third, Evan Bouchard reached base when his grounder to short was misplayed and when a pickoff attempt was thrown away at first, the runner was off and running.

He raced all the way to third base off the miscue and scored when Tyler Martin slipped a ball up the middle for an RBI single, it was a 1-0 game.

Meriden’s Andrew McCarty roped a double to left-center field to open the fourth and a botched pickoff attempt got McCarty to third.

The runner eventually scored on an Ethan Brazel RBI groundout as the game became a 1-1 affair.

It was still tied going into the bottom of the fifth as Austin Brown and Lozier snagged one-out walks as two were on for Post 2.

A double steal put the duo into scoring position and a wild pitch scored Brown as Bristol was back on top, 2-1.

And when Fradette sent a bouncer up the middle, pinch runner Dylan Woodsome scored from third and the home squad was ahead on the scoreboard by two at 3-.1 

Meriden was down to its final six outs but simply refused to give in.

A bad-hop single saw Evan Cordero reach base and when Brazel smacked a single down the third base line, two were on with just one out.

Haniewski made it 3-for-3 as his RBI single scored Cordero and the deficit was chopped to 3-2.

“I thought they had a bunch of seeing-eye hits all over the place,” said LaPenta of Meriden. “It’s part of the game too. They’re a pretty good club. They swing the bats well.” 

Wes Deno followed up with a single to left as the bases were loaded for Bennett.

He grounded out to second, but Brazel scored to knot the game up at 3-3.

From there, Giacco smacked a base hit down the field in left – plating the go-ahead run – as Meriden secured a 4-3 edge.

Canzellarini then came in for Lozier, helped to induce a short fly-out to center, as Bristol was forced to respond down by a run.

“That was the big inning, the top of the sixth,” said LaPenta. “If we put a zero up there at 3-1, it’s a whole different animal.”

Bouchard laced a bomb to right field with one gone in the third inning, hustling all the way to third, as his triple put Bristol back in the mix as the tying runner was on.

And then Martin sent a long fly ball to left for an out but Bouchard scored easily on the sac fly as the contest was all knotted up at 4-4 going into the final inning.

“We gave up the lead and then we came right back and tied it with Evan,” said LaPenta. “Tyler had a nice at-bat.”

McCarty zipped out a single up the middle with one gone in the seventh, stole second and scored on a single to right from Cordero as Meriden tallied the go-ahead run at 5-4.

Brazel blasted a single to put two on and Haniewski was intentionally walked to load things up with one gone.

Deno then grounded out to short, the ball came home for the second out at the dish but on the toss to first, it was thrown away – scoring Brazel – as Meriden padded its lead, 6-4.

Haniewski later scored on an error at third base as Post 45 led it 7-4.

Two more runners eventually came home before the inning was complete as Bristol trailed 9-4 with the bottom of the seventh looming.

Avery then came into throw for Meriden, going 1-2-3 as Bristol absorbed a tough 9-4 loss.

“I can live with the physical errors, they’re part of the game,” said LaPenta. “We just didn’t execute [in the end].”

Bristol American Legion, Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game

MERIDEN 9, BRISTOL 4

from Muzzy Field, Bristol

Meriden (6-3)     000 103 5 – 9 14 2

Bristol (8-4)   001 021 x – 4 4 6  

WP: Ryan Killeen (Meriden); LP: Ryan Killeen (Bristol) 

Meriden Batting 

2B – Andrew McCarty

3B – None

HR – None

Bristol Batting 

2B – None

3B – Evan Bouchard

HR – None

Records: Bristol 8-4 overall, 6-4 Zone 1; Meriden 6-3 overall, 6-2 Zone 1