SUMMER BASEBALL: Bedryczuk comes up big for Bombers

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BY KEVIN ROBERTS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
Former Woodland High standout Zach Bedryczuk is in his third year with the Brass City Bombers, and he’s a much-needed veteran presence on a young team.
Bedryczuk came up big for Brass City in a 7-6 comeback win over the Western Mass Pioneers in a Connecticut Collegiate Baseball League contest on June 28 at Municipal Stadium.
Leading off the bottom of the seventh inning, Bedryczuk belted the first pitch into the left-centerfield gap for a double. He moved up to third base on Gianni Merlonghi’s grounder to second base, and scored two batters later on Matthew Bucciero’s line-drive single.
Merlonghi is from Monroe, and Matthew Bucciero, along with twin brother Daniel Bucciero, are coming off a very successful senior season at Ridgefield High.
“He’s our veteran guy on this team for sure,” Brass City coach Tim Belcher said about Bedryczuk. “You need a couple veteran positional players because we have a bunch of guys that are just leaving high school or after first year of college. To have that veteran leadership, he’s been there, done that in this league. I think he proved it with that at-bat.”
Bedryczuk (Southern Connecticut State) was on the 2020 CCBL championship team, which faced elimination on five different occasions that postseason and emerged with a victory each time.

Making his Marks, times two
Former Woodland multi-sport standout Justin Marks has shown his versatility in two different adult leagues this summer.
Marks, who throws and bats left-handed, has played for both Blasius Chevrolet of the Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League and the Record-Journal Expos of the Greater Hartford Twilight Baseball League.
In a June 18 game against the Amenia Monarchs, Marks got the start on the mound, and he kick-started the Blasius offense with a solo home run in the bottom of the third inning.
Marks kept Blasius in the game, but received a no-decision as the Monarchs rallied for a 4-2 win at Hotchkiss Field in Prospect.
Marks has done really well for the Expos thus far this season. He’s 4-0 and has struck out nine or more batters in three of those four wins, including 16 twice.
Marks’ lowest strikeout total of the game was seven over four innings in his first win on May 24 against the Wallingford Cardinals.
In a two-game stretch on the weekend of June 24-26, Marks homered, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs in a 9-1 victory over the Bristol Greeners, then fired a complete game with 16 strikeouts in a 6-1 win over the South Windsor Phillies.

Plasky hitting well again
Look at the league leaders in hits, and you’ll find a former local standout in the top five.
Corey Plasky, an All-NVL player at Naugatuck in 2017, was third in the league in hits with 15 as of July 1. Plasky, who plays alongside Marks on East Hartford, led the GHTBL in batting average in 2020 at .476.