Andre Chiefs

Wakefield, MA- The Chiefs rode the pitching of veterans Mike DiCato and Tim Dunphy, both who turned in complete game efforts, to sweep a doubleheader from the Merchants, 4-0 & 8-2, on the road at Walsh Field on Sunday.

DiCato was immense in the opener, tossing a one-hit shutout. The former Malden Cathoilc and UMass standout allowed a leadoff bloop single to Scott Searles, in the first inning, and was lights out from there on. The right-hander retired the last 16 Merchants in a row. The only other base runner the Merchants’ had was when he walked Andy Hartung with one out in the second inning.

The Chiefs supplied the DiCato (pictured left) all the runs he would need in the top of the first inning. Justin Crisafulli drove home Jeff Bercume, who had reached on an infield error, with a RBI single.

Two more Chiefs’ runs came across in the top of the fifth inning, when they upped their lead to 3-0, on two more Merchants’ errors, a Paul Yanakopulos sacrifice bunt and Matt Bolseki’s opposite field RBI single.

The Chiefs got their final run with a little small ball in the top of the sixth. Mike Barbati drew a leadoff walk, was bunted to second by Boleski, and scored on a Yanakopulos RBI single to center, the last of only three Chiefs’ hits in the game.

DiCato (4-3) struck out five. James Ramsey (3-3) took the loss for Wakefield.

The Chiefs overcame a 1-0 fifth inning deficit, scoring eight times over the final three innings, to take Game Two, 8-2.  Southpaw Tim Dunphy chalked up his fifth decision without a loss, in going the complete game route.

Tim Dunphy is now 4-0-1

The Merchants took a 1-0 first inning lead when Searles reached on Mike Baillargeon’s error at shortstop and eventually scored the unearned run on a Mike Sorrentino infield single

.It stayed 1-0 until the top of the fifth inning as Dunphy and Merchants’ starter Darren Bisso cruised through the middle innings.

The Chiefs finally got to Bisso and took a 2-1 advantage in the fifth. Tony Deshler singled and was sacrificed to second by Boleski. Barbati then lifted a double down the rightfield line, scoring Deshler, to tie the game at 1-1. Catcher Nick Leva then switched places with Barbati when he delivered a long double into the right-centerfield gap, scoring Barbati and putting the Chiefs in front.

The lead went to 6-2 an inning later when Vinny Pennell led things off with a single and Bisso hit both Crisafulli and Mike Andre with pitches to load the bases. Deshler then singled, scoring Pennell and Crisafulli, to up the lead to 4-2. After Boleski popped out and Deshler stole second, Barbati came through again, this time with a two RBI single, scoring Andre and Deshler to run the lead to 6-2.

The Chiefs final two runs came in the top of the seventh when Pennell walked, Crisafulli doubled, and Andre had an RBI single.

Dunphy scattered seven hits, three of the infield variety, and struck out two. Bisso (5-2) took the loss for Wakefield.

The Chiefs are right back on the road on Monday evening when they travel to Reading High School to meet the Bulldogs at 6:00 PM.  

Reading, MA- Justin Crisafulli had a four for four night, including a double and homer number 90 of his career, to lead the Chiefs to a 6-3 win over the Bulldogs in Reading on Monday evening. Crisafulli’s offensive show backed the complete game effort of Jared Freni who raised his record to 7-1 on the season.

The Chiefs staked Freni to a one run lead in the top of the first. Jeff Bercume led off the inning with an infield single behind the first base bag. Bercume stole second and scored on Vinny Pennell’s RBI single to left. Crisafulli followed with an infield single but Reading starter Sean Boyle got out of the inning when he got Mike Andre to hit into a 6-3 doubleplay.

Freni set the Bulldogs down in the bottom of the first and the Chiefs added a couple of runs in the top of the second to take a 3-0 lead. Tony Deshler and Matt Boleski got things started with consecutive singles and Mike DiCato moved them to second and third with a perfect sacrifice bunt. Nick Leva's slow roller to the right side, with the infield back, allowed Deshler to score and when the grounder was mishandled, Leva reached first. Bercume then drove in Boleski with the Chiefs’ third run with a sacrifice fly to left. Mike Baillargeon followed with a single to right-center sending Leva to third. It stayed 3-0 when Boyle got Pennell to ground out to end the inning.

Freni escaped a minor jam in the Bulldogs’ second when Andy Gagnon singled and Nick Kelley walked.

The Chiefs added their fourth run in the top of the third inning when Crisafulli led off with a long double off the base of the fence in left-center, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Andre’s bad hop infield single.

The Bulldogs stormed back in the bottom of the third inning, scoring three times, on five singles (Brett Flutie, Billy Cataldo, Trevor Manzi, Alex Fischer and Kelley) cutting the Chiefs’ lead to 4-3.

The Chiefs wasted little time in answering the Reading rally, scoring two runs in the top of the fourth inning when Crisafulli hit a two run homer to left-center, scoring Bercume, who had singled, ahead of him.

Freni retired Reading in order in the bottom of the fourth and the Chiefs went quietly in the top of the fifth.

The Bulldogs’ appeared poised to make their second run of the night at closing a Chiefs’ lead in the bottom of the inning. Manzi led things off with a single. Andre then turned in the defensive play of the night when he snagged Fisher’s one hop bullet that was labeled for the left field corner to start a crisp 5-4-3 doubleplay.

Freni and Reading reliever Mike Nich both tossed zeros the rest of the way accounting for the 6-3 final.

Freni, allowed eight hits, struck out four and walked a batter. Boyle (1-3), who gave up only three earned runs in his five innings, took the loss.

The Bulldogs enjoy a night off on Tuesday while the Chiefs stay on the road and visit the Blue Sox in Lexington at 8:00 PM     

Medford,MA- For the 46^th time in 48 years, the Chiefs will be heading to the post-season.

As club enjoyed a day off on Friday, they quietly clinched a playoff spot by virtue of the Watertown Reds 2-1 win over the Arlington Trojans.

The Chiefs have won 17 playoff crowns, with the first coming in 1961 under the tutelage of legandary player-manager Lenny Dempsey.  Dempsey was posthumously enshrined into the ICL’s Hall of Fame in 2010.

The Chiefs can still finish the regular season anywhere from second to sixth place, depending on the results over the last six games of the season. The ICL’s first two regular season finishers will receive first round byes. The third place team will meet the sixth place finisher and teams four and five will hook up in the best of three first round series, tentatively scheduled to begin on Sunday, August 7. Both the semi-final and championship series will be best of five.

The Chiefs will begin the last week of the regular season schedule on Sunday when they travel to Walsh Field in Wakefield for a doubleheader that will begin at 3:00 PM. 

Lexington, MA- The Blue Sox broke open a 4-4 fifth inning tie, when they scored five times, to pull away from the second place Chiefs 9-4 under the lights in Lexington. The Wednesday night win was the first for the Blue Sox over the Chiefs this season as the Chiefs had won the previous two meetings 4-0 and 6-4.

Mike Morgan and Justin Wright drove in three runs each for Lexington. Pete Frates, Steve Gath and Wright each scored twice and Frates added three hits.

Matt Karis (4-1) pitched six innings, giving up six hits and four runs, while striking out three. Karis gave way to Tim Lahey who worked a scoreless seventh.

Jared Freni (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season giving up eight runs in four plus innings. He allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out five. Tim Dunphy worked 1.2 innings and Jake Crawford 0.1 innings, with a strikeout, out of the Chiefs’ bullpen.

Matt Boleski had a single in the first inning and Jeff Bercume worked a bases loaded walk in the fourth to pick up RBI’s for the Chiefs. The Chiefs other two runs came when Mike Barbati’s infield grounder was thrown low to first, allowing two unearned runs to score.

Chiefs’ rookie Jon Byrne, from Arlington Catholic, recorded his first career ICL hit with a fourth inning single.

Waltham, MA- Karl Alexander tossed a neat five-hitter, striking out nine, to pitch the Watertown Reds to a 4-2 win over the Chiefs at Bentley University on Tuesday evening.

The Chiefs squandered an early 2-0 advantage and Alexander, who was 5-3 for Bates this past spring with a 2.50 ERA, shut down the offense over the last four innings.A Tony Deshler RBI single, driving in Vinny Pennell, who had doubled, gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning.

Chiefs’ starter Mike DiCato got the Reds in the bottom of the first inning and Alexander retired the side in order in the top of the second.

DiCato and the Chiefs got themselves out of a bases loaded nobody out jam in the Reds’ second. Sean Callahan walked, Ryan Nicholas singled, and Brendan Casey was hit by a pitch to fill the bases. DiCato then served up a tailor-made 1-2-3 doubleplay off the bat of Jim McLaughlin to get two big outs. He completed the escape by getting Steve Tramontozzi to bounce back to the box.

The Chiefs picked up an unearned run in the top of the third inning when Jeff Bercume singled, stole second, and scored when Deshler reached on an infield error.

The Reds answered back and cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the third. Sam Sager led off with a single. Steve Busby then lined another single to center with Bercume trying to throw Sager out at third on the play. Sager was safe and Busby had taken a wide turn at first. Chiefs’ third baseman Mike Andre’s throw was low to first and skipped past Pennell allowing Sager to score.

It stayed a 2-1 game until the Reds took the lead at 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Sager walked, Busby struck out and Dan Chaisson walked. With Sager attempting to steal third, Callahan hit an infield chopper between Andre at third and Mike Baillargeon at shortstop. With Andre covering the bag, Baillargeon had to go deep into the hole to make the stop. Sager kept on running and the he slid under Paul Yanakopulos’ tag to tie the game at 2-2. The Reds’ scored what proved to be the game winner a batter later when Chaisson scored the third run on a wild pitch.The Reds added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a Justin Forman two out single and a long RBI double to left-center by Sager.

Alexander, now 4-3, retired 13 of the last 15 batters he faced. He was aided by some fine outfield defense as Nicholas ran down a deep Andre shot to center and Tramontozzi made a nice grab of a Boleski drive in left for the last two outs of the sixth. Nicholas was at it again as he made a diving grab of a Bercume liner, with two away in the seventh, to end the game.

DiCato, fell to 3-3 on the season after winning his last three decisions. The former Malden Cathoilc and UMass-Amherst righty worked six innings, allowed three earned runs on eight hits. He struck out four, walked four (one intentionally) and hit two batters.

Bercume, with two singles, tied former longtime Chief Rob Ross at number 20 on the Chiefs' all time career hit list.

The Chiefs, now 15-9-1 on the year, visit the Blue Sox at Lexington High School on Wednesday night at 8:00 PM.