By Michael Letendre
ROCKY HILL – The Bristol American Legion baseball team beat the weather on Monday evening but couldn’t do the same against Zone 3 rival RCP.
Bristol and RCP have had a bit of a postseason rivalry over the years and this time around, the contest from Rocky Hill went the way of the home teams as Post 2 fell by a 4-1 push.
RCP improved to 6-4 while Bristol fell to something along the lines of 4-4-3 with three games still to make up against NCL, Northeast and Torrington.
On Monday, RCP’s Zachary Zajac went six strong innings to earn the win. He allowed no runs on four hits while striking out seven and walking two.
Tyler Carlstrom gave up a late run off a hit from Bristol’s Chase Belisle (3-for-3, double, stolen base, RBI) but Bristol couldn’t generate any additional offense.
Belisle ended up with three of Bristol’s seven total hits.
Elliot Norris went 2-for-4 with a couple singles while Jaydon Churchill and Edward Sanchez each tallied singles for the visiting aggression.
Norris scored the lone run for while Nick Sconziano was hit-by-a-pitch to get on base for Bristol.
Ryan Maglio, who brilliantly pitched the previous day against Ellington, earned a walk as did Belisle.
Bristol stranded nine runners on base as the big hit didn’t come until late in the showdown.
Declan Schenck earned the loss for Post 2 but threw well over his 80 pitches.
He allowed four runs, three earned, struck out two and walked a couple over 5.1 innings of work.
Josh Dunne mopped up late over 2/3 of an inning.
Post 2 allowed single runs in the first and third frames but trailed by a manageable 2-0 score going into the bottom of the fifth.
But a two-run fifth by RCP made it a 4-0 deficit for Bristol and the visitors never got any closer than three the rest of the way.
Up next
Bristol is in action on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week, hoping to dodge and duck Mother Nature along the way.
On Wednesday, a little more gas money will be needed for Bristol’s trip to Enfield (5:45 p.m.) at Powder Hollow Park.
Thursday, Post 2 travels to Middletown for a Zone 3 showdown and then on Friday, EHM comes to Muzzy Field for a date against Bristol.
Both those contests commence at 7 p.m. while one of those makeup games – against Northeast – is slated for Sunday at 11:30 a.m. in Bristol.
Bristol American Legion Baseball – Zone 3, Senior Division
RCP 4, BRISTOL 1
from Rocky Hill
Bristol (4-4-2) 000 000 1 – 1 7 0
RCP (6-4) 101 020 x – 4 9 1
WP – Zachary Zajac (RCP); LP – Declan Schenck (Bristol).
Bristol Batting
2B – Chase Belisle
3B – None
HR – None
RCP Batting
2B – Ethan Ucol (2), Jack Pawlich, Elias Deleon
3B – None
HR – None
Records: RCP 6-4 overall; Bristol 4-4-2.
