Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- The Chiefs beat the stormy skies as well as the Mooney Dental Tanners 2-0 at Tufts University on Sunday evening.

In a game that was delayed twenty minutes at the start due to threatening conditions and finished in a steady rain shower, the Chiefs rode the two-hit pitching of ace Jared Freni to take their eighth straight win.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning.  Mike Andre got things started when he doubled into the right field corner off Tanner lefty starter Chris Pessotti. Mike DiCato moved Andre to third with a sacrifice bunt and when the throw to first to get DiCato was low, the Chiefs had runners on the corners with nobody out. Pessotti got then Nick Leva to pop up for the first out. Mike Barbati’s infield grounder to shortstop scored Andre with DiCato being forced at second. Pessotti got Jeff Bercume swinging to keep it a 1-0 game after two innings.

The Tanners mounted their most serious scoring threat in the top of the third. After an infield throwing error by DiCato at first, Johnny McDonald singled sharply up the middle. With runners at first and second, Carlton Lentini grounded to Juan Portes at short with both runners moving into scoring position. Freni and the Chiefs got out of the inning and kept the shutout intact when Edward Ovalle made a nice running catch of a Joe Burnham liner to left.

The lead doubled to 2-0 in the home half of the fifth inning. Leva blooped a 3-2 pitch into right for a single. Barbati moved Leva up to second with a sacrifice bunt. Jon Byrne, making his first start of the season in the DH role, was next and he grounded out to McDonald at second base with Leva moving to third. Bercume then delivered Leva with  long double to right. McDonald robbed Hal Landers with a diving stop of a hard grounder earmarked for a RBI single to right to retire the side.

That was all the scoring either team could generate as Freni retired the last ten Tanners in a row and Pessotti blanked the Chiefs over the final two innings.

Freni raised his record to 8-1-1 on the year and recorded nine strikeouts while walking just one. Pessotti, now 2-4, scattered six hits, struck out three and walked a couple.

Chiefs Chatter......The Chiefs are now 21-6-2 on the season. Sunday’s shutout was the tenth thrown by the pitching staff in 29 games so far in 2012.....On Monday, the Chiefs will host a three team doubleheader at Maplewood Park (Malden Catholic). In the opener, the Chiefs will play the Arlington Trojans at 6:30 PM and then take on the Watertown Reds in the nightcap at approximately 8:30 PM........The Chiefs will conclude their regular season schedule on Wednesday night when they host the Reading Bulldogs at Maplewood at 7:45 PM.