Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- Veteran southpaw Tim Dunphy turned in a route going performance as the Chiefs turned back the first place Lexington Blue Sox 6-4 on Sunday afternoon at Tufts University.The former Brandeis ace allowed six hits on the way to picking up his third win of the season to go along with a tie.

Dunphy and Blue Sox starter and fellow lefty Mike O’Brien (Babson) dominated the first three innings of the game with base runners being at a premium. The Sox got former Virginia Commonwealth standout Justin Wright on with a one out single in the top of the first but he was erased on an inning ending doubleplay off the bat of Jeff Vigurs. Neither team saw the base paths in the second inning. The Blue Sox got Tommy Haugh aboard with a single leading off the top of the third. Haugh was sacrificed to second and went to third on an infield grounder. Dunphy and the Chiefs got out of the inning when third baseman Mike Andre made a nice play on a Pete Frates chopper and threw the former Boston College standout out by a step at first base.

O’Brien got the Chiefs side in order in the bottom of the third and the Blue Sox broke through to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth. After Dunphy struck out Wright for the first out, Vigurs followed with a double to right-center. Steve Gath then singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Matt McEvoy picked up an RBI when he grounded to Mike Barbati at second base with Vigurs scoring and Gath going to second on the play. Former Bentley third baseman Ross Curley gave the Sox a two run lead when he singled to right with McEvoy sliding across the plate just ahead of Vinny Pennell’s throw.

The Chiefs came right back at tied things up at 2-2 in their half of the fourth inning. Leadoff man Jeff Bercume got things started when he drew a walk. Mike Baillargeon then singled to center. Pennell drilled a warning track laser shot to right-center that was nearly tracked down by the quick Frates with Bercume only able to advance as far as third to load the bases. Tony Deshler was hit by an O’Brien pitch, forcing in Bercume to cut the lead to 2-1. Andre was next and he lofted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Baillargeon to tie the game at 2-2. O’Brien and the Sox averted more damage when Barbati hit into a crisp 6-4-3 doubleplay.

Dunphy retired the Lexington side in order for the fourth time in five innings in the top of the fifth and the Chiefs doubled their lead to four runs, taking a 6-2 lead, in the bottom of the frame. Mike DiCato led off the inning with a single and Matt Boleski drew a full count walk. After two unsuccessful bunt attempts, Paul Yanakopulos sent McEvoy back the warning track in left to run down his deep fly for the first out. O’Brien caught Bercume looking at strike three for the second out before Mike Baillargeon gave the Chiefs their first lead of the afternoon with a single to center scoring DiCato. Pennell (pictured left) followed with another single to right scoring Boleski to make it 4-2. Tyler Kendrick replaced O’Brien on the mound for the Sox and Deshler greeted him with a two strike, two RBI single, to right giving the Chiefs a 6-2 advantage.

The Blue Sox came back when they picked up two runs to cut the margin to 6-4 in the top of the sixth courtesy of a walk, a hit batsman, a passed ball and a two RBI single to left from Curley.

Kendrick got the Chiefs in order in the bottom of the sixth. Dunphy did the same to the Blue Sox in the top of the seventh to preserve the Chiefs win.

Dunphy, who had pitched professionally in Europe in 2007, struck out four and walked only one.

The Chiefs enjoy an off day on Monday before heading to Bentley University in Waltham on Tuesday to meet the Reds in 6:00 PM start. On Wednesday, the Chiefs and Blue Sox hook up again, this time in Lexington at 8:00 PM.

  

Woburn, MA- The Chiefs offense came alive on Friday night when they scored 13 runs and had 18 hits in a 13-5 win over the Mooney Dental Tanners at Ferullo Field.

Jared Freni (6-0), won his sixth consecutive start while working six scoreless innings. Freni gave way to Paul Yanakopulos who got roughed up a bit in the seventh in his ICL pitching debut.

Mike Baillargeon led the hit parade with a 4 for 5 night that included a double and two RBI’s. Tony Deshler and Yanakopulos each picked up three hits while Mike Barbati, Nick Leva and Matt Boleski each had two hits. Boleski hit his league leading fourth home run and added a double on the way to a four RBI game.

Freni allowed just one hit in his six innings and struck out eight. Yanakopulos surrendered all five runs on five Tanners’ hits in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Brett Manley took the loss for the Tanners.

The Chiefs-Merchants game scheduled for early Saturday has been postponed.

The Chiefs will now host the Lexington Blue Sox on Sunday afternoon at Tufts University starting at 3:00 PM.

Medford, MA- University of Rochester right-hander Jeff Rowan was masterful, tossing a complete game three-hitter, to get the Testa Corp. Bombers past the Chiefs 5-1 at steamy and gusty Tufts University on Thursday night.

With the win, the Bombers climbed back to the .500 mark and in the process brought the Chiefs’ modest three game winning streak to a halt.

Rookie right-hander Jake Crawford (0-1), making his first ICL start, took the loss for the Chiefs.

Crawford escaped a major league jam unscathed in the top of the first. The Tufts University right-hander from Idaho, loaded the bases on a walk and two hit batsman before getting an inning ending strikeout.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Vinny Pennell drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Pennell then moved to third on a Tony Deshler infield grounder. Mike Andre was next up and he was issued an intentional walk, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Rowan got Justin Crisafulli to fly to short right for the second out. The Chiefs scored an unearned run when Mike DiCato reached on an infield error allowing Pennell to score.

Crawford and Rowan both had quiet second innings before the Bombers scored a couple of times to take a 2-1 lead in the top of the third. Singles by Anthony Serino, Devin Perry and Nate Witkowski, to go along with a walk and another hit batsman, led to the runs.

Rob Machado, who had been experiencing back stiffness, replaced Crawford to start the fourth. The Bombers jumped on him for a couple of more runs to take a 4-1 lead using singles from Serino, Perry and Alex Barber.

Rowan was cruising at this point and retired the Chiefs side in order in the bottom of the fourth and the Bombers picked up their final run in the top of the fifth.

The Chiefs other rookie righty from Tufts University, Alex Cronkite, (San Paolo, CA) looked impressive and retired the only six batters he faced in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Chiefs now head to Ferullo Field in Woburn on Friday night to meet the Tanners in an 8:00 PM start.

Medford, MA- It was one of those games where you just had the feeling that whatever team batted last would win.

Fortunately for the Chiefs the game was played at their Tufts University home and in their last at bat, they did indeed come away with a hard fought 7-6 win over the Reading Bulldogs on Wednesday evening.

The Chiefs’ Mike DiCato (3-2) pitched in and out of trouble all evening, but was just good enough to pick up his third straight win.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 first inning lead when Jesse Bruinsma walked, stole second, and scored on Justin Crisafulii’s RBI single.

They clung to the one run lead until the Reading fourth when DiCato victimized himself. He threw a sure inning ending doubleplay ball into center field, hit a batter with the bases loaded, issued a walk, a bunt single, and two-out, two strike, two RBI single to Doug Dellorfon, that opened the door for the Bulldogs to take a 3-1 lead.

The Chiefs stormed right back to re-take the lead at 4-3,when they scored three times in the bottom of the fourth on Tony Deshler’s RBI double and Mike Barbati’s two RBI single.

The Bulldogs responded again to knot the game at 4-4 in their half of the fifth inning on singles from Billy Cataldo and Trevor Manzi and an Alex Fischer sacrifice fly.

It was the Chiefs turn assume the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Vinny Pennell singled home Bruinsma, giving them a 5-4 lead.

DiCato and Reading starter Sean Boyle tossed zeros in the sixth inning setting the stage for the dramatic finish.

In the top of the seventh, things started quietly enough for DiCato when Billy Cataldo flew out to Deshler in center for the first out. Zac Talis began the Reading rally when he singled sharply up the middle. Trevor Manzi followed and he drilled a long double into the left-center field gap, scoring Talis all the way from first to tie the game at 5-5. Things went from bad to worse for the locals when the throw home to get Talis went to the backstop allowing Manzi to go to third, representing the go ahead run. With the Chiefs’ infield drawn in, Fischer lined a bullet single off the diving Mike Baillargeon’s glove at shortstop, scoring Manzi and giving the Bulldogs the lead once again at 6-5.

Paul Yanakopoulos put the Chiefs immediately back in business when he led off the bottom of seventh with a huge double into the right-centerfield gap. Bruinsma followed and after two failed bunt attempts, he reached on an infield chopper single behind the mound sending Yanakopulos to third. A botched wind aided pop up off the bat of Baillargeon then loaded the bases with nobody out. The Chiefs caught their second break of the inning when Boyle uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Yanakopulos to scamper across the plate with the tying run and sending Baillargeon and Bruinsma to second and third respectively. Pennell completed the comeback when he hit a fly ball to medium right that was just deep enough to allow the rapid Bruinsma to tag and score the winning run.

DiCato went the distance and allowed seven hits and struck out five. Boyle (1-2) surrendered eight hits and struck out six.

The 13-7-1 Chiefs are right back in action on Thursday evening at Tufts University when they host the Testa Corp. Bombers at 6:00 PM.     

Medford, MA- Veteran Matt Boleski had one of the most productive games of his six year Chiefs’ career, knocking in five runs with a three run homer and a two run double, to lead his team to an 8-2 win over the Medford Americans on Monday evening at Tufts University.

Boleski’s offensive show backed another outstanding outing from Jared Freni, who went the distance to improve his record to 5-0 on the season. The former UMass-Amherst captain and Malden Catholic star allowed five hits and struck out eleven.

The Chiefs gave Freni more than he would need when they scored six times in their first bat against Americans’ starter Ryan McNiff. McNiff hit leadoff man Mike Maguire with a pitch and the former Suffolk University star stole second. Mike Baillargeon drilled the first pitch he saw off the fence in right for a double scoring Maguire and giving the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Mike Andre moved Baillargeon to third with an infield grounder to the right side and Justin Criasfulli promptly plated him with a line single to center to make it 2-0. The Chiefs took advantage of two Americans’ errors as Tony Deshler and Mike DiCato both reached on infield miscues with Crisafulli scoring the third run. Mike Barbati followed with a single to center but DiCato was thrown out on the play after rounding second as Deshler was held at third. Enter Boleski, (pictured left) who drilled a McNiff offering over the scoreboard in right-field, scoring Deshler and Barbati ahead of him, jumping the Chiefs lead to 6-0.

Freni allowed a two out single to veteran Mike Kalfopoulos in the top of the second and McNiff settled in and retired the Chiefs in order in the bottom of the inning.

The Americans got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning. Mike Burgoyne got things started when he beat out an infield single to shortstop as Baillargeon’s throw sailed high of first but Burgoyne was unable to advance to second. Danny Gunn then drew Freni’s only walk of the night. Freni struck out Joe Nixon and Jose Polanco in succession before Franklin Pierce bound rookie Dan Gilchrist lined a single to left, scoring Burgoyne.

Deshler’s one out single was all the Chiefs could come up with against McNiff in the bottom of the third and Freni rebounded nicely, striking out the Americans’ side in order in the top of the fourth inning.

McNiff, appearing to get stronger, retired the Chiefs in order again in the bottom of the fourth and the Americans inched a little bit closer when they picked up their second run of the night in the top of the fifth inning. Burgoyne got things started once again, this time with a line single to right. Gunn then fouled out to catcher Nick Leva for the first out and Burgoyne stole second.  Nixon then singled to put runners on the corners. Burgoyne and Nixon then executed a double steal to account for the Americans’ second run of the night. Nixon was stranded in scoring position when Freni got Gilchrist to ground to Andre at third base.

McNiff held the Chiefs scoreless for the fourth straight time in the bottom of the fifth and Freni got the Medford side in order in the top of the sixth.

The Chiefs got their six run lead back in the bottom of the sixth. Deshler led off with a single and DiCato was hit by a McNiff pitch. Pinch hitter Dave Scioli then drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Boleski was next and he drilled a double into the right-center field gap, scoring Deshler and DiCato, with the game’s final runs.

Freni retired the side in order for the fourth time in the game in the seventh, including two strikeouts, to give the Chiefs their third win in a row.

For Freni, it was his eleventh career victory. In the process, the hard throwing righty passed Jay Dillon and moved into seventh place on the Chiefs’ all-time strikeout list. Freni now has 146 career K’s in just 116 innings.

The Chiefs, now 12-7-1, are off on Tuesday. They begin a grueling seven games in an eight day stretch on Wednesday when they host the Reading Bulldogs at Tufts University starting at 6:00 PM.