2015 was always going to be a tough year. Being the 2014 league champions of the 10 team Connecticut Twilight Leauge, the Knights had a target on their back from every team. The last time a team won in back to back seasons was the 2009 & 2010 Willimantic Ridges. This year, behind the spectacular play of the Knights pitching staff, the team successfully defended their title and won the 2015 CTL Championship. 2nd Year Manager Brian LaRochelle and founder/GM Scott Dickens had most of their 2014 team returning this year, but always were looking for new talent to build upon the strong base established over the teams previous 12 years. This year the team added a lot of new players due to injuries, player unavailability, and to give the team more options so they never would worry about having plenty of guys to field a strong team. The 2015 Knights had a record of 15W-10L-1T in the regular season, enough to gain the regular season central division title, and 1st round bye in the CTL playoffs. The more impressive stat though was the teams regular season run differential, which to end the regular season was an astounding +66 runs (122 runs scored, 56 allowed in 26 games).

In the playoffs the Knights amazing pitching continued. In the first game, rookie RHP Matt Niedzwiecki threw a CG 2 hit shutout while striking out 15 to defeat the East Hartford Angels. In the second playoff game, the Knights faced the Willimantic Ridges and suffered a tough 2-1 loss… though to no fault of LHP Chris McGrath, who threw a complete game, 12K gem. This brought the Knights to face the #1 seed Glastonbury Pirates in the Elimination bracket with a win putting them in the Championship. Matt Niedzwiecki got the start again, and this time was just as / if not more impressive, throwing another complete game shutout and giving the Knights the 1-0 win. This time, Niedzwiecki only threw a 1-hitter, while striking out 12. The were now in the best of 3 Championship Series of the Connecticut Twilight League, facing the Willimantic Ridges. Longtime Knights veteran ace RHP Earl Oakes got the start and didn’t disappoint. Earl threw another complete game, a 4-hitter with 8 strikeouts, while the Knights won 9-0. With 1 game down and 1 remaining to repeat as champions, the Knights went back to LHP Chris McGrath. McGrath was dominant still, even on 2 days rest… striking out 7 and only allowing 2 hits over 5 innings to get the win. The Knights went to Niedzwiecki with one on in the top of the 6th to get the 2 inning save and lock down the championship. Matt did what he does and shut down the Ridges striking out 3 and allowing no hits over the last 2 innings. Bristol won 3-0. The Knights were champions again, and the pitching staff was the biggest reason why. Night after night they were almost unhittable, making very good hitting teams rarely make solid contact.

In the 2 championship series games, the Knights had some offensive stars that shined when the stage was its biggest. In game 1, longtime veteran lefty Eddie Dickman had 2 hits and 2 runs, while 2 rookies had huge games. Kyle Lentini had 3 hits and 2 RBI, while Marco Ross added a very big hit and 2 RBI. In game 2 the Knights were held scoreless most of the game by longtime twilight veteran RHP Dan Livingston. The Knights were able to breakthrough in the 5th. With 2 men in scoring position rookie Steve Clout had the biggest hit of the year with a hard single up the middle to knock in the only 2 runs the team needed. Rookie Dan Nunes added a single and RBI to make it the final 3-0 score. Julio Ortiz-Rivera added 2 big stolen bases in the win while the defense was superb throughout, led at Short Stop by veteran Rick Barrett who made every play that came his way with ease.

The Knights final record of 19W-11L-1T is very impressive, but the final run differential of +80 runs is amazing. The pitching was the biggest reason why. Only allowing 58 runs in 31 games on the year is crazy. On the year Matt Niedzwiecki struck out 87 batters in 53 innings pitched, while Chris McGrath struck out 66 in 62 1/3 innings pitched. The team looks to try for a back-to-back-to-back championship next year in 2016, and expect the best from all of the other teams looking to knock the Knights off the throne.

At 7pm this coming Tuesday, 8/18 the Bristol Knights will be represented by 3 of our best players in the inaugural All-Star game vs the All-Stars of the Greater Hartford Twilight League. The Knights are sending Matt Niedzwiecki, Chris McGrath, and Rick Barrett to join representatives of all the other 9 CTL teams.

The 2015 Championship Bristol Knights are:
Scott Dickens (Player / GM), Brian LaRochelle (Player / Manager), Earl Oakes (Player- Coach), Rick Barrett (Player- Coach), Rick Blais (Player-coach), Eddie Dickman, Rex Cone, Justin Kilker, Drew Gallagher, Julio Osvaldo Oritiz-Rivera, Luke Palma, Walter Klimczak, Mike Scanlon, Sam Leonardo, Sean Lopata, Sean Shanley, Chris McGrath, Justin Tokarz, Kyle Lentini, Matt Schweighardt, Marco Ross, Joe Dalton, Chris Valente, Matt Niedzwiecki, Aaron Ortega, Steve Clout, Brett Anderson, Nick DiTaranto, Dan Nunes, and Sebastian DiMauro