Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- ICL veteran and former Chicago Cub slugger Andy Hartung hit a long one-out triple in the seventh inning, to key Wakefield’s three run rally, as the red hot Merchants came from behind to defeat the Chiefs 3-1 at Tufts University on Thursday.

Chiefs’ starter Rob Machado was cruising along and clinging to a 1-0 lead entering the seventh inning. The inning started well enough when catcher Chad Conner made an outstanding catch, leaning into the stands, to grab Mike Sorrentino’s foul pop up for the first out. Trouble began to brew when Machado walked clean-up man Steve Langone on a high 3-2 fastball. The plot thickened a bit when Lorenzo Papa followed with a sharp single to left. Mike DiCato was summoned  to replace Machado and face Hartung, who had had scorched a double in the fifth inning. Hartung turned on a 3-1 pitch and sent it deep into the left field corner, scoring Langone and Papa, giving the Merchants a 2-1 lead. Dale Crispin followed and lined a single to right scoring Hartung to make it a 3-1 game.

Merchants’ starter and winner Kevin Flight got the Chiefs in order in bottom of the seventh inning (Conner fly out, Mike Barbati groundout and Matt Boleski on a deep fly to right) to preserve the Merchants’ thirteenth win of the season against just four losses. (Watch the last out of the game by clicking on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TYQWGGb6XA. )

Flight kept the Chiefs’ bats silenced and off balance for the majority of the evening, scattering just three hits and surrendering just one unearned run.

The Chiefs took their 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Barbati led off and reached when Langone bobbled his grounder at second base. Boleski followed and sacrificed Barbati to second. Flight then got Jesse Bruinsma on a sharp grounder to Langone for the second out with Barbati moving to third on the play. Tony Deshler was next and he delivered Barbati with a long RBI double to left-center.

Flight, (1-0) struck out four, walked just one, and allowed only five Chiefs to reach base. Machado (2-4) suffered his second straight tough loss. The righty lost a 1-0 seventh inning decision to the Mooney Dental Tanners last Saturday. He worked 6.1 innings and also struck out four as the Merchants out-hit the Chiefs in the game eight to three.

The Chiefs will look to rebound on Friday night when they travel to Summer Street Field in Arlington to meet the Trojans in a 7:00 PM start.

Chiefs Notebook....Justin Crisafulli will look to become the all time leader in career hits on Friday. The veteran slugger tied former Chiefs first baseman Mike Langston atop the Chiefs list when he recorded a first inning single on Thursday. Both Crisafulli and Langston each have an amazing 538 career hits in a Chiefs uniform....