Andre Chiefs

Malden, MA- Tim Dunphy threw ground balls, Johnny Welch hit the long ball, and the Chiefs defense smothered every ball, all leading to a hard fought 1-0 win over the Reading Bulldogs at Maplewood on Wednesday night. For the Chiefs, it was their seventh consecutive win and raised their record to 7-0 on the season.

Dunphy recorded 16 groundball outs as the Chiefs’ infield flung the leather around all night long.

The only run of the game came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Johnny Welch sent a 3-2 Sean O’Neill breaking ball over the left-field fence and half-way to Linden Square. For Welch, it was his first dinger of the season and the tenth in his Chiefs’ career.

Neither team could muster any other scoring threats until the Bulldogs appeared poised to do some damage against Dunphy in the top of the sixth inning. Consecutive singles from Bentley’s Burton Deady and Endicott’s Cody Hall, set Reading up with runners on first and second and nobody out. Dunphy got tough and struck out Darren Hartwell looking for the first out, then got Corbin Hyde on a grounder to Peter Copa at first for out number two. With Reading runners now at second and third and Zac Talis at bat, a low 2-1 pitch was blocked by catcher Chad Conner but the ball squirted a few feet away. Conner quickly recovered and flipped to Dunphy who applied the tag on Deady, who was coming home on a close play at the plate to end the inning.

The Bulldogs made some noise again in the top of the seventh but couldn’t push the equalizer across. Zac Talis put the visitors in business when he led off with a line single to center. Enter the defense of Copa from that point on. The first baseman made a nice stop on a Mike Taylor chopper and threw to Nate Witkowski, forcing pinch runner Cam Farnham at second for the first out, with the relay to complete a 3-6-1 doubleplay being a step late. Ryan O’Conner was next and Copa took a similar path, gloving his grounder and forcing Taylor at second for out number two. Copa saved his best for last when he made a diving stop on a Josh Drew hard hit one-hopper and scrambled to his feet in time to beat him to the bag to end the game.

Copa had 13 putouts to go along with his two assists and second baseman Mike Barbati was perfect in five defensive chances.

Welch’s infield single in the first inning and Barbati’s one out liner in the fifth inning were the Chiefs only other hits off O’Neill who fell to 1-2 on the year. The former Brandeis ace struck out seven.

Dunphy (1-0) allowed five hits and struck out a couple. He didn’t walk a batter and added four assists and a putout to aid his own cause. It was the 31st career win in a Chiefs' uniform for the former Brandeis standout.

The Chiefs are expected to send righty Jared Freni (3-0) to the mound when they travel to Morelli Field to visit the Melrose Americans on Thursday at 8:00 PM. (Bruce Tillman, 400hiter.com)