By Michael Letendre

BRISTOL – After a tough 2-0 loss to Pod C challenger Milford on Tuesday evening, the 17U squad from Bristol American Legion baseball got back to the pay window on Thursday with a huge triumph over RCP.

Eleventh ranked Bristol eliminated No. 14 RCP by an 11-1 final in the Connecticut State 17U Tournament from Muzzy Field.

Post 2 moved to 12-9 overall while RCP (10-12) was dropped from the double elimination format.

Bristol’s roped up 14 hits over the showdown and looked like the squad that defeated RCP 22-5 earlier in the season.

“The last three or four games, we’ve been getting better and better” at the plate said Bristol coach Jerry LaPenta. “We’ve been swinging the bats a lot better.”

Bristol used four pitchers that evening, including winner Caleb Molinsky (one hit, three strikeouts) who was capped at 45 total pitches after Bristol pulled in front by seven runs.

Brian Grabowski, Drew Martineau and Jack Ericksen all saw action from the mound for Bristol.

RCP chucker Anthony Mangillo went five innings, threw 89 pitches and allowed nine runs. All five runs Bristol tallied in the bottom of the second were unearned.

Post 2 managed to score runs in every stanza except in the third and fifth tilts while RCP’s tally came in the top of the third.

RCP went 1-2-3 to open the first frame with Bristol coming up to bat, getting right to work offensively.

Gabe White (2-for-3, two runs) dropped a base hit by the RCP shortstop, stole second and scored when Molinsky (2-for-4, two RBI) cracked a double off the third base bag – with the chalk smoking in the air – as the home team led 1-0.

And with one away, Tate Stevens (3-for-3, four RBI) slammed a single to left, plating Molinsky, as Bristol secured a 2-0 push.

“Tate’s just come alive,” said LaPenta of Stevens. “I think he’s six-for-six [in tournament play]. You know, baseball is all between your ears. And he just has a totally different approach [and] he’s not talking to himself.”

Grabowski (two hits) and Brayden Schenck followed with back-to-back singles, but a huge 6-4-3 double play got RCP out of a truly sticky situation, trailing 2-0 through one completed inning.

In the second, Molinsky allowed a walk – later nullified by Bristol catcher Luke Colfer, getting RCP’s Chase Stafstrom attempting to steal second base – and fanned James Vinchetti to end the half-inning.

“We’re playing good defense,” said LaPenta. 

And then Post 2 was at it again from the plate in the second, collecting five runs.

Gavin Colvin lined a deep-dish double to the gap in left while Colfer got to first base via error as his grounder to first was never cleanly picked up.

From there, Tyler Ryan was plunked by a pitch – loading things up.

And with two away, Mason Harris placed a well hit ball in no-man’s land in short right, scoring Colvin and Ryan, as Bristol was in firm control at 4-0.

Stevens then slapped a single to left to score two and Grabowski followed with a slow roller to short, beating out throw, but it was poorly thrown and, on the miscue, Stevens scored from third base as RCP trailed 7-0 through two.

RCP finally scored in the third off an RBI single from Stafstrom as Grabowski had come in to pitch for Molinsky.

“We pulled Caleb there to pitch on Saturday,” said LaPenta about Bristol’s possible advancement in tournament play. “We have to win two on Saturday and everybody else, we kept under 30 pitches.”

All RCP was able to cobble together in the fourth was a walk but in the bottom of the inning, Post 2 added to its ever-growing cushion.

After a Ryan base-on-balls, White singled on and off a Molinsky grounder to second base, Ryan scored as Bristol scooped up an 8-1 lead.

And with two away, Stevens picked up his fourth RBI of the encounter as he sprayed a single nearly down the line in left as Stevens scored and Bristol held an imposing 9-1 edge through four.

In the theme of keeping its pitching for another day, Grabowski went 1.2 innings, as Drew Martineau took his turn on the hill with one down in the fifth.

RCP had back-to-back singles with one gone in the fifth, but Stafstrom grounded out to Martineau and Margiotta took strike three to keep the opponents from adding runs to the board.

After two one-out walks by RCP in the top of the sixth, Jack Ericksen became Bristol’s fourth pitcher of record, quickly picking up a strikeout as the visiting aggression was limited to one run and five hits overall.

And finally in the bottom of the tilt, Post 2 put the event away for good.

Colvin walked and Ryan was hit by a pitch once again.

A wild pitch advanced both runners and to end things, an RBI groundout by White and then a sharp single to left from Molinsky, Ryan scored to end the event as Bristol came away with a huge 11-1 victory to stay alive in Pod C play.

Post 2 was scheduled to play at Milford on Friday at 3:45 p.m. with bad weather in the forecast.

“We have a lot of arms,’ said LaPenta. “Gavin’s going to pitch Friday. He’s fresh. He hasn’t pitched in a while. And to win games like that, we have to hit. And we’ve been hitting. We’ll see where that goes.” 

Bristol American Legion Baseball – 17U State Tournament, Northern Division, Pod C showdown

No. 11 BRISTOL 11, No. 14 RCP 1 (6)

from Rotary Park, South Windsor 

RCP (10-12)   001 000 – 1 5 3 

Bristol (12-9)  250 202 – 11 14 0  

Battery: Bristol – Caleb Molinsky, Brian Grabowski (3), Drew Martineau (5), Jack Ericksen (6) & Luke Colfer; RCP – Anthony Mangillo & Owen Stafstrom. 

WP – Caleb Molinsky (Bristol); LP – Anthony Mangillo (RCP). 

RCP Batting 

2B – None

3B – None 

HR – None 

Bristol Batting 

2B – Caleb Molinsky, Gavin Colvin,  

3B – None 

HR – None 

HBP – Tyler Ryan (Bristol), Tyler Ryan (again from Bristol)

LOB – RCP 8; Bristol 6. 

Records: Bristol 12-9 overall; RCP 10-12.