Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- The Wakefield Merchants beat the Chiefs 3-2 on Tuesday night at Huskins Field to finish in second place and claim a first round bye in the ICL playoffs.

The third place Chiefs will now play the number six seed Watertown Reds in a best of three series that will open on Wednesday at Tufts at 5:30 PM.

The Merchants scored three times in the top of the fifth inning, without the benefit of a hit, to claim the win. In fact, hits were rare at Huskins on Tuesday, with a total of five by both teams combined. Of the five hits in the game, two were of the infield variety.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third, against Wakefield’s Darren Bisso, when Jeff Bercume doubled with one out and then stole third. Mike Baillargeon then plated Bercume with a long sacrifice fly to center.

Chiefs’ starter Jared Freni was cruising along with a 1-0 lead heading into the Merchants’ fifth. He struck out Jason Roth for the first out of the inning. Things started to unravel a bit for the Freni and the Chiefs when the right-hander walked Andy Hartung and Jon Davison in succession. Bob Losanno then hit a grounder to Mike DiCato at first base. DiCato looked toward second briefly but then bobbled the ball just long enough for an error, as Losanno beat Freni to the bag at first to load the bases. Freni then threw a wild pitch, allowing Hartung to score to tie the game at 1-1 before striking out Brooks Townsend for the second out. Scott Searles and Mike Sorrentino then drew two more uncharacteristic walks from Freni, forcing in another run to give the Merchants the lead at 2-1. Rob Machado was summoned from the bullpen and he issued the fifth walk of the inning to Lorenzo Papa to it make it 3-1 game.

The Chiefs got their second run in the bottom sixth when Baillargeon was hit by a Bisso pitch, went to second when Vinny Pennell walked, to third on Justin Crisafulli’s long flyout, and scored on a wild pitch.

Bisso, 6-2, allowed just three hits, (two doubles to Bercume & a Mike Andre infield single), struck out four and walked four.

Freni, 7-2, took the loss while only allowing two hits (a Sorrentino infield single & Townsend third inning single) while working 4.2 innings. He struck out six, walked four, and threw a wild pitch. Machado went the last 2.1, did not allow a hit, struck out two, walked two and hit a batter.