By Michael Letendre
A stat’s check is in order for the Bristol Blues of the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
The program, a sterling 25-9, are getting it done from both sides of the plate and aren’t that far off the best record in the league.
Here are the numbers for the squad as of Friday:
Pitching
Colin McVeigh (3-0 overall) leads the squad in ERA as his 0.68 has seen the chucker allowed just two runs over 26.1 innings pitched.
Jagger Duquette is second in ERA (1.55) as the former Bristol Eastern standout has thrown 29 innings of 10-run ball.
He’s fanned 25 batters while walking only four batters.
Paoli, Mason Ulsh, Luke Garofalo (five saves), and Matt Smith are a combined 9-0 as the Blues’ pitching staff has been on the money from the get-go.
Peter Phillips (two saves) has closed a game or to for Bristol this season.
Offensive numbers
From the plate, Chaz Myers was leading the Blues in batting average (.350), home runs (three), and second on the squad in RBI with 15.
Derek Tenney (16) was Bristol’s RBI leader entering the squad’s double feature on Saturday in Massachusetts.
Matt Smith is hitting .333 on the campaign, Jay Harry was just a little behind at .319 while Tenney was batting a cool .306 this year.
Two on Saturday
The Blues had a back-to-back confrontation at North Adams on Saturday as one of the two games was a make-up from a rain-out earlier in July.
Bristol won the first contest, snaring a 4-3 victory in eight innings.
The Blues broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth with three runs to snare the eventual win.
Denney tallied three of Bristol’s seven hits – going 3-of-4 overall with a double, a run scored and two RBI.
Jack Kelley won the game for Bristol in his one inning of relief.
And in the immediate rematch, the Blues were no-hit over a 4-0 loss to drop the locals to 25-9 overall.
Ulsh was sensational over his five innings, allowing just two hits and fanning two but did not factor into the decision.
Back home
Bristol is back in action at home four times this week and will square away the Western Division Title.
On Monday, the Valley Blue Sox come to Bristol and after a trip to Danbury on Tuesday, the Blues have an immediate rematch against the Westerners in a home-and-home series.
From there, the Mystic Schooners pay a visit to Bristol on Thursday and to close out the week on Saturday, the Upper Valley Nighthawks invade the Mum City.
All games from Muzzy Field start at 6:30 p.m.
All-Star nods
Bristol Blues Manager Tom Binkowski and his staff of Kevin Rival, & Mark Stephens will coach the Southern Division All Stars in the 2022 NECBL All Star Game.
The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks are the host for the All-Star Game on Sunday, July 24 from the Shark Tank.
