Andre Chiefs

Beverly, MA- Reading’s Tim Woods blanked the Chiefs 3-0, besting Tim Dunphy, in an all southpaw battle and a flawlessly played defensive game at Endicott College on Tuesday night.

Hitting was once again scarce on both sides of the ledger as the game featured a total of 10 hits, six by the Chiefs and four off the bats off the Bulldogs. Simply put, Reading capitalized on their limited opportunities while the Chiefs did not.

Dunphy and Woods matched blanks over the first two and one half innings before the Bulldogs broke through with a run in the bottom of the third. Ryan Wolfsberg put Reading in business when he led off the inning and rolled a triple into the right field corner. With the Chiefs’ infield drawn in, Dunphy got Billy Cataldo to ground to Juan Portes at short for the first out. Trevor Bouvier then plated the game’s first run when he hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Wolfsberg.

After the Chiefs wasted a leadoff single by Mike Burgoyne in the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs added a couple of big two out runs in the bottom of the inning. John Halsey flew out and Mike O’Leary grounded to Portes for the first two outs of the inning. Pat Lucas then drew a full count walk. Harrison Smoske made that hurt when he doubled to right-center, just out of the reach of a diving Tony Serino, to score Lucas from first. Burton Deady followed with a single to left to make it 3-0. Wolfsberg added another single before Cataldo grounded out to end the inning.

The Chiefs best scoring chance came in the top of the sixth. They had three hits in the inning sandwiched around a doubleplay. Serino led off and beat out an infield single. Burgoyne, who had two straight singles in his return to lineup, hit the ball sharply again but this time the result was a tailor made 4-6-3 doubleplay. With the bases cleared, the Chiefs continued to battle when Portes and Mike Gedman both singled. The threat went by the boards when Nate Witkowski lined out to right-center with a nice running catch made by Lucas.

Both teams went in order in their last at bat.

For Woods, it was his second straight shutout of the season. The Salem State product threw a one-hit, 10 K performance at the Arlington Trojans last Tuesday. He allowed six hits and struck out four.

Dunphy, now 1-1, took the loss despite allowing just four hits. The veteran walked just one, didn’t record a strikeout, and got a dozen ground ball outs.

The Chiefs return home on Wednesday night when they host the Trojans at Maplewood at 8:00 PM.  Righty Matt DiCato is expected to get the start for the Chiefs.