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Bristol dropped their third straight game, this time to the Keene Swamp Bats by a score of 6-2. 

 

A rough third inning for Bristol would be their demise, surrendering four runs. Bristol would also leave seven runners on base, similar to their previous two losses. The Blues would record only six hits as a team, going down by way of the strikeout 11 times. 

 

Jackson Kossow (Iona) got the nod for the Blues on the bump, starting his second game of the season. He was pulled after two and two thirds innings, allowing four runs on four hits and three walks, striking out one Swamp Bat hitter and recording the loss. 

 

Nick Timpanelli (Charleston Southern), the righty from Staten Island, New York, got the ball for Keene, going four and a third of solid work, allowing one run on five hits, sending two Blues’ hitters down on strikes. 

 

Keene got to Kossow in the third, scoring four runs on four hits and two walks. Bryce Molinaro (Penn State) and Alex Calarco (Maryland) recorded back to back RBI doubles off the Bristol starter, with the latter Swamp Bat’s plating two. Alex Alicea (Louisville) also singled home a run, the first of the ballgame for Keene. 

 

Bristol threatened in the bottom of the third, including having second and third with one out in the forms of J.T. Landwehr (Mt. St. Mary’s) and Mika Peterson (Brown), but a smart, heads-up play by Swamp Bat’s first baseman Ripken Reese (Kent St.) to nab Landwehr at the plate when the Vienna, Virginia native attempted to score on a sharply hit ground ball from Brady Short (Central CT St.) 

 

Logan Waltz (Felician) relieved Kossow, and recorded a statline of three and a third innings pitched, surrendering one hit and striking out three Keene batters. Jack Kabel (Quinnipiac) took over pitching duties for Waltz in the seventh, throwing one and two thirds of no run ball, striking out one and walking one. 

 

West Hartford native Nick Kane (Sacred Heart) took over for Kabel in the bottom of the eight, recording three outs, all by way of the “K”, before surrendering a walk and being pulled in favor of Emmett Tolis (Fairfield), who recorded the final out of the top of the ninth by way of the strikeout. 

 

Bristol native Gavin Gregor (Bryant) got the Blues on the board in the fourth inning, doubling home newly committed Billy Sullivan (Fairfield) home off of Timpanelli into the right centerfield gap.

 

Timpanelli gave way to left handed reliever Jared Lessman (Louisville), who struck out six Blues’ in three and a third, allowing one run on one hit. 

 

The Blues’ scratched another run across in the bottom of the seventh, after some crafty base running by Gregor placed him on third base where Landwehr would single him home with two outs off Lessman. 

 

Keene tagged Tolis for two runs with two outs in the top of the ninth, the first - an inherited run via Kane - scored on a Joe Jaconski (Penn State) triple that narrowly alluded the reach of Skye Selinsky (Columbia), and the second when Jaconski avoided a Tolis tag at the plate after the Fairfield Stag’s pitch got past catcher Dean O’Neal (Maine) to increase the Swamp Bat’s lead to 6-2. 

 

Bristol would try to come back in the ninth, but stranded runners on first and third with two outs. Isaac Williams (Central Florida) would record a four out save for Keene, walking two but K-ing three. 

 

After starting the 2024 season by winning their first five games, Bristol finds themselves having dropped their last three, but still remain on top of the West Division by a .5 margin. The Blues welcome in-state rival the Mystic Schooners to Muzzy Field Friday night for a 6:30 first pitch. 

 

Written by Ryan Jainchill