Andre Chiefs

Malden, MA- Jared Freni was on top of his game once again and this time his teammates finally provided him a run, albeit that they waited until the seventh inning to do it, in a 1-0 Chiefs walk off win against the Wakefield Merchants on Monday night at Maplewood Park.

The game’s only run came when Jeff Bercume (pictured right) led off with a triple to right field and scored on a wild pitch with Juan Portes at the plate and one away in the bottom of the seventh.

The game featured a scoreless pitcher’s duel between Freni (1-0) and the Mulhenberg College (PA) ace Christian Ferlan of Litchfield NH (0-1).

Freni was perfect thru five innings before rookie Jason Dahl broke up the streak with a long triple off the base of the fence in left-center with one out in the top of the sixth inning.

The Chiefs threatened and had runners in scoring position in the first, third and fifth innings but each time they were denied by Ferlan.

In the Chiefs sixth, Tony Deshler singled and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Matt Boleski. Ferlan then got Mike Barbati to fly to right for the second out. Nick Leva followed and drilled a sharp single to center. A perfect throw home from Merchants’ centerfielder David Orlowitz  to catcher Mike Sorrentino nailed Deshler at the plate to keep the game scoreless.

Jared Freni

Ferlan allowed eight hits and struck out four. Freni struck out sixteen and walked two.

Brendan Pyburn (2-4, double), Leva (2-3) and Juan Portes, who went 2 for 3 in his Chiefs debut, all had multiple hit games.

The Merchants are back in action on Tuesday when they take on the Americans at Playstead Park in a 6:00 PM start. The Chiefs are off until Thursday when they travel to East Boston Stadium to meet the Testa. Corp Bombers at 8:00 PM.

Reading, MA- The good news is that the Chiefs pitching staff has not allowed an earned run over the first three games and 25 innings of the season.

The bad news is that the bats remain mired in an early season slump, hitting at an anemic .187 as a team over the same period.

If offensive baseball is what you are looking for look elsewhere, at least for the moment, as atotal of six runs have been scored (four by the Chiefs-two earned and two by the opposition-none earned)  over the first 25 innings of baseball so far this season.

The solid pitching has netted a Chiefs win and two nine innings ties, good for four out a possible six points.

Sunday in Reading was no different as either the Chiefs and Bulldogs could have easily come away with a win. Both southpaw starters, Tim Dunphy and Sean Boyle, both pitched well enough to get the “W”. Neither did. The two clubs were forced to settle for a point apiece and a 2-2 final at Morton Field.

The Chiefs got a run in the top of the first inning when Jeff Bercume beat out another infield single and Mike Baillargeon lined a single to left. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Bercume eventually scored on Peter Copa’s RBI infield grounder.

It went to 2-0 in the top of the third when Bercume reached on an error, stole second, advanced to third on a Baillargeon grounder, and scored on Copa’s sacrifice fly to center.

The usually solid Chiefs defense (no errors in the first two games) temporarily abandoned Dunphy in bottom of the fourth as the Bulldogs tied the game at 2-2 on three infield errors (Pyburn 2, Mike Andre 1) and Matt Zajac’s two out, two RBI single.

Both teams had chances to take the lead over the next four innings with the biggest threat coming in the Reading eighth when they loaded the bases with one out. Mike DiCato, who was on in relief of Dunphy, escaped the jam when he got Doug Flutie to bounce into a 1-2-3 doubleplay.

Dunphy allowed four hits in 7.1 innings while Boyle went the distance and surrendered just four hits.

The Bulldogs head to Lexington on Monday at 8:00 PM to meet the Blue Sox while the Chiefs entertain the Wakefield Merchants at Maplewood Park at Malden Catholic starting at 7:45 PM.

Lexington, MA- Rob Machado threw a three-hit shutout to lead the Chiefs past the Wakefield Merchants in the second game of the annual Gerie DeAngelis Memorial Day of Baseball on Saturday afternoon in Lexington.

The Chiefs staked their big righty to a two run lead in the top of the first inning against Merchants starter Connor Mahon. Jeff Bercume beat a dribbler down the third base line and Mike DiCato followed with an infield single to deep shortstop. Peter Copa was next and he reached on an infield error to load the bases. Mahon got Mike Andre to pop up for the first out before Matt Boleski delivered Bercume with a long sacrifice fly to right. Copa and DiCato then executed a double steal with Mike Sorrentino’s throw to second hitting Copa and going into left field allowing DiCato to score.

Machado (1-0) went the distance, throwing just 77 pitches, striking out seven and hitting a batter.Mahon allowed eight hits (four of the infield variety), struck out four and walked two.

Bercume (3-4), DiCato (2-3, sacrifice bunt), Andre, Copa and Nick Leva accounted for the Chiefs eight hits. Scott Searles (double), Nick Napoli and Bobby Losanno had the Merchants hits.

The Chiefs are back in action on Sunday when they travel to Reading High School to meet the Bulldogs in a 5:00 PM start. On Monday, the Chiefs have a rematch with the Merchants in their home opener at Maplewood Park on the campus of Malden Catholic starting at 7:45 PM.

Woburn, MA- Right-handers Jared Freni of the Chiefs and Jonathan Bishop of the Tanners locked up in a classic nine inning pitcher’s duel as the teams battled to a 0-0 tie at Ferullo Field on Wednesday night.

Bishop went all nine innings for Mooney while Freni got some relief help from his former UMass-Amherst and Malden Catholic teammate Mike DiCato, who worked out of a tight spot and got all three outs in the ninth.

Bishop, who came off a tough 14 strikeout 2-1 loss to Reading last week, was equally impressive in his second start. The big righty from Plymouth State allowed just five hits on Wednesday (three of the infield variety) and struck out nine. He pitched out of Chiefs’ scoring chances in fourth, fifth, eighth and ninth innings.

Freni went eight innings plus before giving way to DiCato after surrendering a leadoff single to Corey Collins leading off the bottom of the ninth. He allowed four hits and struck out 16.

Matt Boleski (infield single, opposite field single), Tony Deshler (4^th inning double), DiCato (bunt single) and Mike Baillargeon (infield single) accounted for the Chiefs hits.

Along with Collins, Carlton Lentini, had two singles and Ryan McCarthy added a 7^th inning base hit for Mooney.

The Chiefs return to action on Friday when they travel to Summer Street Field in Arlington to meet the Trojans at 7:00 PM. The Tanners are off until Saturday when they take on the Blue Sox in Lexington at 6:30 PM.

Go to www.intercityleaguebaseball.com for Wednesday Night's Boxscore.

Chiefs Notebook.... Babson infielder Rob Caggiano made his Chiefs debut when he pinch ran in the top of the ninth inning......Leadoff man Jeff Bercume as well as Juan Portes were out of the Chiefs lineup for the opener.....Friday's game in Arlington is a 7:00 PM start. On Saturday, the Chiefs play Wakefield at Lexington High School in the annual Gerie DeAngelis Memorial Day of Baseball at 1:30 PM......

NEW YORK - Columbia junior outfielder Dario Pizzano was chosen by the Seattle Mariners in the 15th round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.

In 2012, Pizzano was selected as the Ivy League Player of the Year and was a unanimous first team All-Ivy League honoree. He batted .360 during the season with four home runs, 16 doubles and 36 runs batted in. He drew 31 walks and struck out just 16 times during the season. Pizzano improved his batting average to .409 during Ivy League play with two home runs and 20 runs batted in.

A three-time first team All-Ivy League outfielder, Pizzano was the Ivy League Co-Rookie of the Year in 2010 and is tied for the program record in home runs with 25, matched by former Major Leaguer Gene Larkin '84.

During his three years at Columbia, Pizzano has batted .364 in 133 games. He ranks among Columbia's top ten in career batting average, slugging percentage (.647), on-base percentage (.448), doubles (43), home runs (25), runs batted in (108) and total bases (293).

Dario, a former Malden Catholic standout from Saugus MA, played for the Chiefs in 2009 when he batted .205 in 23 games.

He becomes the 113th Chiefs player to enter the professional ranks.