Andre Chiefs

Woburn, MA- Jared Freni turned in the most dominating performance of his ICL career, striking out 17 batters, to lead the Chiefs to a 3-0 win over the Mooney Dental Tanners at Ferullo Field on Friday night. With the win, the Chiefs clinch a first round playoff bye for the second consecutive season.

Freni broke the Chiefs record for strikeouts in a game that was previously held by former San Diego Padres right-hander Keith Forbes, who struck out 16 batters against the Americans on July 1, 2007.

Tanner righty Phil Recco made certain that this important Chiefs win was not going to come in easy fashion. He retired the first eleven batters he faced in a row until Mike Andre broke the string with two outs in the top of the fourth inning.

The Chiefs went in order in the top of the first inning (Paul Yanakopulos groundout, Bob McCarthy popup, Andre lineout) and Freni retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning, recording his first two strikeouts.

Recco got the Chiefs 1-2-3 in the top of the second (Justin Crisafulli grounder, Matt Anderson flyout and Tony Deshler groundout). The Tanners got the first baserunner of the night, albeit briefly, in the bottom of the inning when Mark Nardelli led off with a line single to center. Freni caught Nardelli leaning the wrong way and promptly picked him off first. He ended the inning by striking out Keegan DeNapoli and Tim Mullin.

Recco stayed tough and set the Chiefs down quickly in the top of the third. (Brian Macrina groundout, Matt Boleski flyout to right, Mike Barbati groundout).The Tanners appeared poised to take the lead in the bottom of the nning when they loaded the bases with one out. Cote singled to right and Joe Harvey popped a bunt single over the charging Andre at third. Freni struck out Stokik for the first out before Watkins delivered the third single of the frame to center with Cote being held up at third. Freni dominated the next two hitters striking out Carlton Lentini and Joe Smith in succession to end the Tanner threat.

The Chiefs got their first baserunner and broke through for a huge unearned run in the top of the fourth. After Recco got Yanakopulos on strikes and McCarthy on a sharp grounder to short, Andre drilled a liner to right which Harvey dove at and it got by him and carried all the way to the wall for a triple. The Chiefs caught a break when Crisafulli’s grounder was juggled by Cote at second base allowing Andre to score. 

With the 1-0 lead, Freni was untouchable in both the fourth and fifth innings as he struck out six consecutive batters.

Chiefs Third Baseman Mike Andre

The Chiefs finally gave their hard throwing right-hander some breathing room when they picked up a couple of huge insurance runs in the top of the sixth. Mike Barbati led off the inning with a sinking line single to right. Harvey went into a dive and missed the ball allowing Barbati to come all the way around to score on a play that was officially scored as a single and a three base error. Recco struck out Yanakopulos for the first out before McCarthy lined a single to center and stole second. Andre then plated McCarthy with a line RBI single to right giving Freni a 3-0 lead. Crisafulli followed with bloop single to right but Recco escaped further damage when he K’d Anderson and got Deshler on groundout.

The Tanners had their second scoring threat of the night in the bottom of the sixth when Watkins and Lentini both singled with no outs. Freni kept the shutout intact when he struck out Smith and Nardelli and got DeNapoli on a hard hit liner to Bolseki in center.

Recco stranded a Chiefs runner at third in the top of the seventh. Macrina led off and reached on an infield error and rookie Sean Glabicky pinch ran for him. Recco then got Boleski on an outfield fly for the first out and Barbati moved Glabicky to second with a fielder’s choice. The Malden Catholic rookie went to third on a passed ball but was left there when Recco got Yanakopulos on a groundout.

Freni worked a quick seventh, registering K's 16 and 17 of the night.With the win, Freni goes to 4-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.72. The former UMass-Amherst captain and Malden Catholic all-scholastic has struck out 68 batters in just 48.1 innings so far this season.

The Chiefs regular season final against the Americans has been cancelled.