The Bristol Knights earned their spot in the Connecticut Twilight League championship series with a 4-0 shutout of Elmer’s Angels on Monday evening at Muzzy Field.
Bristol will play the Fat Orange Cat Brewers in the championship series. It starts tonight with a doubleheader beginning at 6 p.m. at Muzzy.
Pitcher Rob Bibisi scattered eight hits in a strong complete-game effort. Bibisi struck out just three batters, but he also didn’t walk a batter. He was helped out by tremendous defense.
On offense, Kyle Pileski put the Knights on the board with an RBI single in the top of the first inning. Pileski’s hit scored Jorge Ortiz Rivera, who parlayed a long at bat into an infield single. He moved over to second base on Rick Barrett’s grounder to the right side, then stole third with Pileski at the plate.
In the fourth inning, Steve Clout doubled home Earl Oakes for a 2-0 Bristol lead. Oakes had reached on a single, then stole second base.
In the fifth inning, Oakes singled home Barrett for a 3-0 advantage. Barrett reached on a leadoff walk and up to second on Pileski’s single.
The Knights added their final run in the seventh on a Clout single that scored Jaeden Rasmus, who was running for Oakes (single).
The defense was able to show off on more than occasion. The second batter of the game for Elmer’s blasted a ball over Clout’s head to the fence in right field. Clout threw the ball in to Ben Mazzone, who quickly relayed the ball to Rasmus at shortstop. It was a bang-bang play, and the call went Bristol’s way.
In the sixth, Barrett made a nifty backhand on a short down the third baseline, then threw to Mazzone, who fired to Pileski at first for an inning-ending double play. In the seventh, a single to left field looked like it would bring home Elmer’s first run, but Georgie Santiago fired the ball to home on no hops to catcher Justin Martella for the out.
Bristol went 10-11-1 in the regular season, which gave it the No. 6 seed in the CTL playoffs. The six seed meant starting the double elimination playoffs with a loss, but the Knights haven’t been defeated yet. Bristol opened with a 5-4 win over the No. 3 Brewers. The second game for the Knights came against the No. 2 Barile Realty Indians, who they beat 6-5 in nine innings. That led them to the winners bracket final against the Angels. The Knights won that game, and now their two wins away from a fifth CTL championship.
Gallery
Here are my photos from Monday evening’s Bristol Knights-Elmer’s Angels game.
