Andre Chiefs

Watertown, MA-The Chiefs used a trifecta of southpaw pitchers, and got a couple of clutch two out two RBI singles from Peter Copa and Matt Nuzzo, to take a 6-3 win over the Reds at Watertown’s Victory Field on Thursday night. 

The Chiefs took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Copa delivered a two out opposite field single down the right field line scoring Tony Serino, who had led off with a single, and Nate Witkowski who reached on an error.

The Reds cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first off Chiefs’ starter Mitchell Clegg when Will Brennan hit his second homer of the season to right.

Reds’ starter Mike Welch got the Chiefs in order in the top of the second but had to leave the game after landing awkwardly while covering first on Serino’s inning ending groundout.

Clegg retired the side with two strikeouts in the bottom of the second and reliever Dante Padovani set the Chiefs down in order in the top of the third.

Chiefs’ leftfielder Tony Deshler made a nice diving catch of a sinking liner off the bat of Casey Santos-Ocampo leading off the Watertown third before Clegg retired both Kyle LaVigne and Logan Gillis on infield grounders to end the inning.

The Chiefs made a 4-1 affair in the top of the fourth. Catcher Jordan Pallazola led off with a single off the glove of Reds’ third baseman Dan Chaisson and Copa drew a walk. Mike Andre then moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Padovani then struck out Deshler swinging for the second out before the Chiefs caught a break when Brennan bobbled Mike Burgoyne’s chopper to shortstop that allowed him to reach first with Pallazola scoring the Chiefs’ third run on the play. Padovani then walked both Serino and Witkowski in succession to force in Copa for a 4-1 lead. The Reds escaped more damage when Padovani got Nuzzo on a fly to centerfield that ended the inning with the bases loaded.

Veteran Tim Dunphy spelled Clegg to begin the bottom of fourth. The left-hander got the first two batters on groundouts, allowed a single to Justin Forman. before striking out Austin Farry to end the inning.

It was the Dan Chaisson defensive show at the hot corner in the top of the fifth. The Reds’ veteran third baseman made three consecutive nice plays on grounders from Johnny Welch, Pallazola, and Copa to retire the side.

The Chiefs padded their lead with a couple of runs in the top of the sixth. Andre got things started with single to center and Deshler followed with a hit to right. Following a Mike Burgoyne sacrifice bunt, Serino drew a walk to load the bases. Padovani got Witkowski to pop up for the second out before Nuzzo delivered his two RBI single to right-center that jumped the lead to 6-1. 

Former Suffolk University and Boston Park League standout Josh Desai made his ICL debut for the Chiefs in the bottom of the sixth and recorded two strikeouts.

The Chiefs went quietly in the top of the seventh.

The Reds made things a bit interesting against Desai in the bottom of the inning when they picked up a couple of runs on singles from Mike Samko and Corliss, a hit batsman, a walk, and a throwing error which trimmed the lead to 6-3 with just one out. Desai quickly restored order and got both LaVigne and Gillis on infield grounders to end the game.

Dunphy (1-0) was credited with the win while Welch (0-1) took the loss.
BOXSCORE AT www.intercityleaguebaseball.com

Chiefs Chatter….. Nuzzo has four RBI’s in the first two games….For Dunphy, it was his 40th career win in a Chiefs’ uniform. The former Brandeis star trails only Dave Marsters (99), Jared Freni (61) and Ari Koufos (49) on the Chiefs’ all-time career list. The Cambridge, MA native has appeared in 85 games and has thrown 417 innings so far in his Chiefs’ career. He has a 40-16 record with the club since making his Chiefs’ debut in 2010….Desai pitched the Worcester Bravehearts to the 2014 Futures League championship. He went on to pitch in the Boston Park League and was named the top pitcher on that circuit in 2015 when he went 8-2 for ADSL. Over his BPL career, Desai recorded 180 strikeouts in just 128.1 innings or an average of 9.8 K’s per every seven innings thrown……Catcher Shane Stande made his first appearance for the Chiefs behind the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Stande spent five seasons as the starting catcher for the Palmer Club of the BPL where he was part of both the 2014 and 2015 championships.....Reds’ starter Mike Welch is veteran of nine professional seasons. He was a third-round pick of the New York Mets. He spent several seasons at the Triple A level before appearing in 10 games for the Philadelphia Phillies…..The 1-1 Chiefs are off until Monday when they host the Melrose Americans at Maplewood at 8:15 PM. On Tuesday, they travel to Somerville to face the Royals at Trum Field before playing the Americans for the second time in three nights, this time at Morelli Field in Melrose at 7:30 PM on Wednesday…..
-Ian Roberts for www.intercityleaguebaseball.com