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Ellis Gets Sixth Win as Chiefs Use a Pair of 4's to Beat Merchants, 8-4
The Chiefs jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Hal Landers lead off with an infield single. When Wakefield starter Jarrod Marchesi threw Bob McCarthy’s sacrifice bunt into centerfield for an error, Landers took third on the play. Peter Copa followed and singled to left, scoring Landers and sending McCarthy to third. Tim Dempsey then drove both McCarthy and Copa home when he drilled a double to the right-centerfield gap and went to third on an errant throw. Justin Crisafulli followed and delivered Dempsey with a sacrifice fly for the fourth run of the inning.
The Merchants cut the gap to 4-1 in the top of the third inning on singles from veteran Steve Langone, Matt Russo and Alex LiDonni.
Both Marchesi and Ellis, who were former Northeast 10 rivals at Bentley and Merrimack respectively, both were virtually untouchable until the Chiefs put the game away with another four spot in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Tony Deshler got things going in the home half of the fifth when he doubled off third baseman’s Brooks Townsend’s glove. Landers moved then him to third with an infield grounder. McCarthy picked up a RBI fielder’s choice when he grounded to third and Townsend’s throw home was in the dirt. Copa reached on an infield error, Demspey grounded out and Crisafulli walked to load the bases for Mike Andre. Andre, another former NE-10 product from Merrimack, singled to right-center scoring McCarthy and Copa to increase the Chiefs lead to 7-1. Matt Boleski, who was hitting for Brian Macrina who had to leave the game with hamstring issues, closed the Chiefs' scoring when he delivered an opposite field double that scored Crisafulli making it an 8-1 game.
The Merchants made it 8-2 in the sixth on two infield errors. Tufts’ righty Pat O’Donnell came on to work the seventh and allowed two unearned runs that accounted for the 8-4 final.
Ellis, now 6-1, struck out seven allowed just five hits and one earned run. Marchesi (3-1) suffered his first loss of the year working five innings and giving up seven hits and striking out seven. Conar Mahon of Norwich spelled Marchesi and worked a scoreless sixth for the Merchants.
The 14-5-1 Chiefs are back in action on Tuesday when they host the Mooney Dental Tanners at Tufts University at 6:00 PM.
