The NECBL playoffs kicked off last night as the Bristol Blues took on the Martha's Vineyard Sharks in Game one of the best of three series.  

The Blues earned home field advantage for finishing second in the South Division while the Sharks finished third. Jackson Kossow (Iona) started on the mound for Bristol and Ross Felder (Arkansas) got the start for the Sharks. After two scoreless innings, The Sharks struck first when Brady Krzciok (Central Michigan) singled to left field with runners on second and third to make it 2-0. JT Landwehr (Portland) came in for Kossow in the third inning and allowed a Gio Colasante (Harvard) sacrifice fly to add one more to the Vineyard lead but Bristol escaped the inning only trailing by three.  

The Blues offense had no answer for Felder all night. The Blues didn’t have a hit until the fourth inning and only had three the entire game. Felder threw 7.1 shutout innings for the Sharks and only allowed one walk and two hits. 

While the Blues offense struggled the Sharks added to their lead scoring two runs in the fifth and the seventh to make it 7-0 after seven innings. With Felder out of the game in eighth the Blues had an opportunity to get some offense going. But Zachery Broderick (Merrimack) picked up right where Felder left off. Broderick only allowed one hit in 1.2 innings pitched and the Vineyard offense provided him with four insurance runs in the top of the ninth just in case. The Sharks went on to win by a score of 11-0. 

The Blues will play an elimination game in the Vineyard Saturday night in hopes to force a game three and bring the series back to Muzzy Field. 

The Blues potential final game of the season will start at 7:05 p.m. and can be streamed on  NECBL+. 

Written by Ryan McKenna

Photo courtesy of Bristol Blues Instagram (@bristol_blues)