By Michael Letendre
The Bristol Greeners of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League start their 2022 playoff run with a single-elimination game against the Wallingford Cardinals on Sunday from Pat Wall Field in Wallingford.
Game time is set for 5 p.m. with the victor of that showdown advancing to the double-elimination portion of the GHTBL playoff tournament.
The Play-In Game for the Greeners (5-19) could be a blessing in disguise as Bristol is a perfect 3-0 against the Wallingford squad over regular season play.
The Cardinals (6-18) finished one game better than the Greeners this season despite struggling to defeat the locals and earned the right to play the postseason game from home in Wallingford.
Bristol defeated Wallingford three times in July this year within a 15-day period.
On July 6, the Greeners defeated the Cardinals by a 4-1 final as Bristol earned its second victory of the year.
Bristol pitching stud Kenny Knox went the distance on the mound that day, allowing just three hits while striking out 11 over a complete game effort.
And then on July 15, in a home-and-home rematch against the Cardinals, Bristol won 6-5 over a close call.
Late game heroics sealed the deal for the Greeners as Casey Horjus came out of the bullpen to win the showdown against the Cardinals.
He was tremendous over 2.2 innings, posting just one hit while fanning four to seize the victorious effort.
Six days later on Thursday, July 21, Bristol was a huge 13-7 victor as the Greeners made it a sweep for the season against the Cardinals.
Over that last victory over Wallingford, Bristol scooped up 14 hits.
Ivan Ramos (three runs scored, two RBI) and Jon Pierce (four RBI) led the charge with three hits apiece while Mike Munson, the former Plainville High School standout, went 2-for-3 with an RBI while striking out five over 1.2 innings on the mound.
Felix Gutierrez also tallied a couple hits while Trevor Mays, Keegan Bartis, and Bryan Capezzone all tallied hits for the winners.
AJ Lorenzetti won the game from the hill, going 5.1 innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out three as the Bristol program was on a three-game winning streak.
Will the fourth time be the charm for the Wallingford program against the Greeners?
Expos
The winner of the GHTBL Play-In Game will be slotted into the eighth seed in the 2022 Playoff Tournament bracket and square off against No. 1 seed Record Journal Expos on August 8 in a contest from Palmer Field in Middletown.
The Expos were the top team in GHTBL play this year at 18-6 overall – going 3-0 overall against the upstarts from Bristol.
The Greeners were outscored over those three games, 33-10.
GHTBL playoff games commence from both Palmer Field and McKenna Field in East Hartford this year with the championship game commencing in Middletown.
The main bracket is a double-elimination format.
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