By Michael Letendre 

NEWINGTON – The Bristol American Legion baseball team had another one of those home-away-from-home contests on Tuesday afternoon – this time against Newington in a Zone 1 attraction.  

It was a make-up game between the squads as Post 2 was the ‘home’ team from Legend’s Field in Newington. 

But the location did not matter as Bristol pitcher Roberto Cruz threw an 82-pitch, complete game gem as Post 2 nabbed a 3-1 victory – moving to 13-4 overall and 11-4 in Zone 1 play. 

Newington fell to 5-9 overall as Post 117 is 0-2 against Bristol this sumer. 

Cruz dominated as he allowed just one run on four hits, walked one while striking out four to move to 4-0 overall, 2-0 against Newington from Legend’s Field. 

“That’s the best game he’s pitched all year, without a doubt” said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta of Cruz. “I think he was under fifty pitches in the fifth inning. He was just pounding the zone and I think he missed [just] a few pitches. I think his [only] walk was in the sixth inning.” 

Bristol ended the day tied with Meriden (11-4) for first place in the zone. 

Both teams put together two-out rallies in the first frame, but it was Bristol that came away with a run. 

Newington’s John Pyne (2-of-3) belted a double to right and when Joe Coleman dropped a single into left, Trevor Nohilly quickly picked up the ball. 

And when Coleman tried to score from third, the clever Nohilly gunned the runner down as Zach Rinkavage made the catch at the plate and applied a quick tag to end the stanza for the ‘away’ team. 

“We played good defense,” said LaPenta.   

In the bottom of the first inning, Andrew Lozier slammed a ball into deep right as he came away with a two-out double. 

He advanced to third on an infield hit by Fradette that saw the ball bounce off and away from the pitcher. 

And then Newington fell for the vaunted ‘Bristol pickle.’ 

With runners on the corners, Fradette broke from first base but refused to take second – instead heading back to first, baiting a throw. 

The Newington defense tried to get Fradette but then fired the ball back to third base as Lozier slid into the bag off a retreat. 

The ball was thrown well past the bag, rolling all the way to the fence. 

Lozier easily scored on the miscue as Bristol wrangled up a 1-0 edge through one. 

Cruz kept Newington off the scoreboard with his deliberate delivery from the hill while counterpart Sam Dionne (six hits, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 Ks) was hanging in on the flip side. 

With one gone in the bottom of the third and Bristol still up by a run, Austin Brown (2-for-3, run) drilled a ball towards third base, but the throw was off as the runner arrived safely at first. 

Brown then stole second and took third when Dionne was charged with a balk. 

Off an Adam Caron grounder, Brown attempted to score from third but was tagged at the dish for the second out of the stanza. 

Caron then swiped second but was picked off to end the inning as Post 2 still led it, 1-0. 

Cruz had retired nine straight going into the bottom of the fourth while Jack Kozikowski (2-for-2, RBI) slipped in a two-out single by the third baseman to get something going. 

Evan Bouchard grounded a ball towards third base, dying in the thick grass as it rolled into oblivion, and was thrown way over the bag at first. 

And when Kozikowski attempted to score off the error, he was easily tagged out at home plate as the 1-0 score carried into the fifth. 

Cruz continued to press the issue, sending down 12 straight before walking leadoff batter Nick Dicioccio to open the sixth – the only base-on-balls he allowed that afternoon. 

“Roberto just pitched great,” said LaPenta.  

After the walk, Jesus Cintron struck out, Ryan Saindon flew out to Fradette in center while Dan Crouse’s fly-ball to right was quickly snared as Bristol’s 1-0 lead was holding pat. 

And then Bristol added two runs to the till in the bottom of the sixth to extend the lead to three. 

“Obviously, to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth is huge because you know they’re going to do something in the seventh,” said LaPenta. “There’s going to be a little pressure, but when you have a cushion like that, it took [the pressure] off.” 

Brown opened the bottom of the sixth with a clean bunt towards third base that died in the shaggy grass, taking second via steal to get into scoring position. 

A passed ball saw Brown go to third before Caron put the ball in play – a grounder that was streamlined towards third base. 

The third baseman never made a clean scoop as the ball zipped into left field, allowing Brown to score, as the insurance tally made it a 2-0 game. 

Caron then stole second and advanced to third on a Fradette groundout with two gone. 

From there, Kozikowski dropped in a deep infield hit to third to score Caron and at 3-0, Post 2 was three outs away from ending the event. 

“I thought Jack had a huge two-out hit,” said LaPenta of Kozikowski. “It was a huge hit to get that third run.” 

Pyne opened the seventh with a single to right, but pinch-hitter Kevin Mooney struck out while a fielder’s choice erased the lead runner. 

And off a grounder up the middle by Nick Cox, Bouchard made one heck of a grab in the vicinity of second base and nearly turned it into a game-ending play. 

But the ball was just thrown away at first, both base-runners advanced, and with men on second and third, Sean Hurley represented the tying-run at the dish. 

“I really wanted to see Evan make that play” to end the game said LaPenta. “I would have been a great play.” 

Hurley flipped a ball into right for an RBI base hit to chop the deficit to 3-1. 

But Dicioccio popped out to short to end the showdown as Bristol won it by two runs, moving to 11-4 in Zone 1 play to stay on top of the division. 

“I thought for having eight days off and playing as hard as we did the last two days was awesome,” said LaPenta of the Berlin and Newington victories. 

Bristol American Legion, Senior Baseball – Zone 1 game 

BRISTOL 3, NEWINGTON 1  

from Legend’s Field at the Clem Lemire Recreation Center, Newington 

Newington (5-9)     000 000 1 – 1 4 3 

Bristol (13-4)   100 002 x – 3 5 1   

WP: Roberto Cruz (Bristol); LP: Sam Dionne (Newington)  

Newington Batting  

2B – Joe Coleman 

3B – None 

HR – None 

Bristol Batting  

2B – Andrew Lozier 

3B – None 

HR – None 

Records: Bristol 13-4 overall, 11-4 Zone 1; Newington 5-9 Zone 1