Andre Chiefs

Lexington, MA- The Chiefs jumped out to 4-0 second inning lead and southpaw Tim Dunphy was perfect for four innings as the Chiefs held off a late Wakefield rally to beat the Merchants 5-3 in the opening game of Saturday’s Jerie D’Angelis Memorial Day of Baseball at Lexington High School. For the Chiefs it was their seventh consecutive win.

After Wakefield starter Conar Mahon and Dunphy matched zeros in the first the Chiefs got what would prove to be the winning runs in the top of the second inning. Mike Andre got things started with a single to right. Nate Witkowski was next and he flew out to center for the first out. Matt Boleski then reached on an errant throw on an infield grounder before Mahon struck out Mike Barbati for the inning’s second out. Eckert bound Jon Byrne followed and chopped an infield single up the middle to load the bases. Paul Yanakopulos quickly unloaded them when he drilled a Mahon pitch deep to left for a bases clearing 3 RBI triple and a 3-0 Chiefs lead. It went to 4-0 a pitch later when Tony Deshler lined a single to left scoring Yanakopulos.

The Chiefs picked up a run to make it a 5-0 game in the top of the fourth but threatened for much more. Byrne led off with another single and Yanakopulos drew a walk. Deshler followed and dropped a perfect bunt single to load the bases for Juan Portes. Mahon got Portes to ground into a 6-4-3 doubleplay with Byrne scoring from third on the play. Mahon then issued his second walk of the inning to Peter Copa before getting Andre to fly out to right to end the inning and keep the Merchants in the ballgame.

Meanwhile, Dunphy was picture perfect through the first four innings, needing just 39 pitches to retire the first dozen Merchants in row.

The Merchants finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Mike Sorrentino tripled to deep right and scored on Ryan Gendron’s sacrifice fly to left cutting the Chiefs’ margin to 5-1.

Jarrod Marchesi came on for the Merchants in the top of the sixth and allowed just a two out single to Portes.

In the bottom of the sixth, veteran John Davison led off with double and Dom Sorrentino pinch ran for him. Sorrentino got as far as third when Dunphy got Joe Barry to fly out and Louis Tarantino and Scott Searles to both ground out to Witkowski at second to keep it 5-1 heading for the seventh.

The Chiefs got a leadoff single from Andre but Marchesi got Witkowski, Boleski, and Barbati on three consecutive infield outs to end the inning.

The Merchants made a big time run at Dunphy in the bottom of the seventh. James Ramsey drew Dunphy’s only walk of the game and Sorrentino followed with his second extra base hit in as many at bats, drilling a double that chased Ramsey to third. Gendron then singled scoring both Ramsey and Sorrentino to draw the Merchants to within striking distance at 5-3. More trouble loomed when Bobby Loscano singled sending Gendron to second and bringing the winning run to the plate in Nick Murray with nobody out. After a missed sacrifice bunt, Murray lined out to Boleski in right for the inning’s first out. Dunphy then got Dom Sorrentino to bounce back to him and he started a 1-6-3 doubleplay to end the game.

Bryne, Portes, Andre and Deshler all had two hits each for the Chiefs.

Dunphy struck out three, walked one, and allowed five hits while raising his record to 3-1 on the season. Mahon, who dropped to 0-2, surrendered eight hits in his five innings of work and struck out two.

The 7-1 first place Chiefs are off on Sunday before hosting the Melrose Americans at Maplewood (Malden Catholic) on Monday night in a game in which the starting time has been changed to 6:45 PM. On Tuesday, the Chiefs travel back to Lexington, this time to meet the Blue Sox, at 8:00 PM. –Bruce Tilman