The Bristol Knights 2015 season reminds us of many others, a somewhat slow start to then really start to put things together for the playoffs. Hopefully this remains true in 2015 as the Knights start their playoff push 8pm this Wednesday (8/5) when the team takes on the winner of the #6 seed East Hartford Angels and the #3 seed Brickhouse Indians. The Knights earned the first round bye in the playoffs this year by claiming the Central Division title in the last week plus of the regular season with 2 key wins over Moodus, wins over the Indians, Elmer’s, and a crazy final game of the season tie with the East Hartford Angels. In that stretch the team took the division lead from the Indians, who held the top spot over the majority of the season. The last game of the season tie with the Angels made it mathematically impossible for the Indians to retake the division lead because the Knights owned the tie braker with the Indians by a very impressive +66 run differential (compared to the indians +24).

In that last game of the season, the Knights travelled to East Hartford’s Martin Park to play the Angels on their home field. The Knights struck early on Eddie Dickman’s huge 2-Run Home Run to start off the game. Bristol started newcomer and lefty Nick DiTaranto on the mound to face the very deep and tough East Hartford lineup. The Angels started shortstop Scott Kelleher on the mound. Nick did his best to keep the Angels from ever having a big inning. In the 4th, the Knights brought in lefty Chris McGrath to take over in a no out and bases loaded situation. The Angels did manage to get a few runs across, but Chris got the outs and kept the Knights in the game. McGrath pitched a solid next few innings until with 2 outs in the 6th, the Indians got the potential winning run into scoring position at second base. Manager Brian LaRochelle went to the pen again, bringing in the 3rd lefty of the game with Eddie Dickman. Eddie only needed to throw a few pitches to get out of the jam do to some great defense. The first Angel batter he faced hit a sharp ball to right field where Steve Clout fielded it and threw a perfect one hop throw to catcher Mike Scanlon who tagged out the runner with ease. It was a fantastic play to keep the game tied. In the top of the 7th at a quickly darkening field, the Knights continued to put runners on and keep pressure on the East Hartford defense. With 1 out and the bases loaded, Earl Oakes came to the plate. Earl already had a huge RBI single earlier in the day, so things looked up for the Knights. Earl hit a hard ball up the middle that the Angels attempted to turn a double play on. They got the runner at second and the throw just missed getting Earl at first as the umpire started to wave safe… runs scores, Knights have the lead. But no… the umpire after initially motioning safe changed his motion and called Earl out at first, ending the inning in a lot of controversy. the Knights bench erupted calling for a second opinion from the home plate umpire, and crying out how the umpire initially called him safe. The umpires met, and to no avail, half inning over, no runs scores. But wait, theres more… the umpires continued chatting as the Knights started taking the field in the bottom of the seventh. The umpires then called over Mike D’Antonio and Brian LaRochelle to chat. They decided to call the game for darkness. Probably the right call as it was getting very dark, but a very tough call for both teams, especially after playing a top of the 7th (where a run should have scored). Fortunately for the Knights, this was the bare minimum needed to win the division. The only chance the Indians had to take the division was to play their last regular season game the next day and win by 43 runs due to the run differential tiebreaker. Thus, the Indians conceeded the division title, and ended up getting rained out the next day anyway.

On to the playoffs…
The Knights take some nice momentum and a very talented and deep squad into the playoffs starting Wednesday. The team has no easy road, facing one of two tough teams. The Angels have arguably one of the best lineups in the league (if not the best), and the Indians do most everything right when they are on their game. If the Knights win Wednesday, the next game would be the winners bracket final on Monday. A loss would mean the Knights play Thursday at 6 in an elimination game. Most of the Knights players qualified and should be available to contribute in the playoffs.