Andre Chiefs

Malden, MA- Tim Dunphy of the Chiefs and Lamarre Rey of the Bombers both came out of the bullpen to throw nothing but blanks as the two clubs battled to a 5-5 tie on the slick Maplewood field turf on Wednesday night.

Dunphy was once again superb for the Chiefs, this time hurling scoreless two hit baseball over the last five innings. Ditto for Rey, who worked three scoreless frames for the Bombers.

The Bombers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second against Chiefs starter Keith Forbes on a Devin Perry triple followed by a Stan DeMartinis RBI infield grounder.

The Chiefs stormed back in the top of the third inning against Anthony Del Prete when they took a 4-1 lead. Torrid Mike Barbati led off with a single and Matt Boleski sacrificed him to second. Paul Yanakopulos followed with a long drive to deep right. Perry slipped on the wet turf and the ball went off his foot into the right field corner, allowing Barbati to score as Yanakopulos came all the way around on the four-base error. Vinny Pennell followed with a double to left-center but Del Prete got Tony Deshler on a grounder to third. Mike Andre then gave the Chiefs a 4-1 lead when he hit his second homer of the season to right. For Andre, who has a team leading 13 runs batted in, it was RBI's 99 and 100 of his Chiefs career.

The Bombers chopped a run off the lead (4-2) in the bottom of the third on a Dan Gad sacrifice fly. They came all the way back to re-take the lead at 5-4 against Forbes in the fourth, using singles from DeMartinis and Anthony Serino, an Alex Barber double, and a Vin Eruzione triple.

The Chiefs scored the last run of the game in the top of the fifth inning when Mike Baillargeon launched a one out solo homer to right-center, his first of the season and seventh of his Chiefs career, knotting the game at 5-5.

The Chiefs are right back in action on Thursday when they host the Wakefield Merchants at Tufts University starting at 6:00 PM.

   

Medford, MA- The Chiefs concluded their five game homestand with a 3-1 win over the Watertown Reds on Sunday afternoon at Tufts University.

Jared Freni (4-0) went the distance to pick up his fourth consecutive win.

Freni retired the Reds in order in the top off the first inning and the Chiefs went right to work against Watertown starter Charlie DeFrancesco in the bottom of the inning. Tony Deshler reached on a one out infield error and Vinny Pennell drew a walk. DeFrancesco got Justin Crisafulli on pop up for the second out before Mike Andre gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead with a RBI single to right scoring Deshler. Former Curry star Rick Vail followed and drilled a single to center scoring Pennell to make it 2-0.

The Reds got their run and cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the second inning. After Freni got veteran Steve Busby to fly to Pennell in center to open the inning, Dan Chaisson followed and launched his first home run of the season, a solo shot to straight away left.

The Chiefs picked up the game’s final run in the bottom of the second inning. Matt Boleski led off with a single to right. Catcher Nick Leva followed and dropped a sacrifice bunt. The throw to get Leva sailed wide of first, allowing Leva to reach and sending Boleski to third. Leadoff man Jesse Bruinsma then beat out an infield single scoring Boleski to make it a 3-1 game. DeFrancesco got tough from there getting Deshler to fly to center, Pennell to pop to third, and Crisafulli on a grounder to short. 

DeFrancesco and Freni took complete control, throwing blanks in innings four, five and six.

After the Chiefs went in order in the bottom of the sixth, Chaisson gave the Reds some hope when he led off the top of the seventh with a line double to right. Freni left Chaisson at second base when he got Jay Olson and Jim McLauglin both on outfield flies before retiring Steve Tramontozzi on a grounder to Vail at first to end the game.

Freni allowed four hits, struck out seven and walked just one. DeFrancesco (0-2) was almost as good, surrendering just six hits, striking out four and walking a couple.

Medford, MA- Veteran right-hander Mike DiCato was immense in Game Two of Saturday’s doubleheader, throwing another no-hitter for the Chiefs pitching staff, in a 9-0 win over the Mooney Dental Tanners. DiCato’s effort followed former Malden Catholic and UMass-Amherst teammate’s Rob Machado’s gem against Reading on June 30.

DiCato’s gem salvaged an afternoon sweep for the Chiefs, who wasted another outstanding effort from Machado, only to lose the opener 1-0 in gut wrenching fashion.

DiCato, was in control from start to finish, striking out nine and allowing only two base runners, both reaching after being hit by a pitch.

Tanners’ starter Mike Nardelli (0-2) matched DiCato pitch for pitch until the Chiefs finally broke their afternoon’s scoreless frustration, carrying over from Game One, taking a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Chiefs used a Crisafulli single, a Tony Deshler double, and a Paul Yanakopulos triple to give DiCato the two run lead.

The lead swelled to 8-0 to the fourth as singles by Mike Maguire and Crisafulli, three walks, a balk, and a three run homer by Deshler, accounted for six more Chiefs runs against Tanners relievers Carlos DelDonno and Dave Maestri.

The Chiefs final run came in the sixth when Rick Vail singled, moved to second when Mike Andre drew a base on balls, and scored on Deshler’s single to left. It was the former Brandeis’ star’s fifth RBI of the game.

DiCato faced just 22 batters in the game, one over the limit. He hit Keegan DeNapoli with one out in the second inning. DeNapoli moved to second base on a wild pitch but was erased when Maguire doubled him off the bag after making an outstanding diving catch of Kevin McKenzie’s sinking liner in centerfield. The only other runner to reach base was in the fourth inning when DiCato also hit Tom Burke with a pitch.

Mike Dicato’s No-Hitter Inning by Inning
First Inning: Mullin struck out swinging, Tatkow ground to Andre at 3B, Burke fouled out to DiCato.
Second Inning: D. Dettore struck out looking, DeNapoli HBP and advanced to second on wild pitch, McKenzie lined to Maguire in CF, DeNapoli was doubled off second base.
Third Inning: Wilson struck out swinging, McDonald struck out swinging, Gali grounded to Yanakopulos at SS.
Fourth Inning: Mullen lined to Deshler at 2B, Tatkow grounded to Yanakopulos at SS, Burke was HBP. Burke stole second. D. Dettore grounded to Andre at 3B.
Fifth Inning: DeNapoli grounded back to DiCato P, McKenzie flew to Cavanaugh in RF, Wilson struck out looking.
Sixth Inning: McDonald grounded to Deshler at 2B, Gali struck out looking, A. Ruocco pinch hit for Mullin. A. Ruocco struck out swinging.
Seventh Inning: Tatkow struck out swinging, O’Hare pinch hit for Burke. O’Hare struck out looking. D.Dettore grounded out to Yanakopulos at SS.

Tanners Take Game One, 1-0
The Chiefs wasted a three-hit, fourteen strike-out performance form Machado, to manage to lose the opener 1-0.

The Chiefs offense was thwarted all game long by Derek Lowe (5 innings, 3 hits, 4 K’s) and reliever and winner Dan Blum (2 innings, 0 hits, 2 K’s)

The Tanners got the game’s only run in the top of seventh. After Machado struck out McKenzie for the first out he hit Alex Ruocco with a pitch. Ben Mullin then grounded to Andre at third with Ruocco being forced at second. Joe Gali then drew a walk and Sean O’Hare reached on an infield single to load the bases. With Tatkow at the plate, the first pitch thrown by Machado skipped away, allowing Ruocco to score the game’s only run.

The Chiefs only had six base runners in the game.The Chiefs are right back at it on Sunday when they host the Watertown Reds at Tufts University at 1:30 PM.   

Medford, MA- Arlington right-hander Mike Griffin went 6.2 innings to get the win as the Trojans held on to beat the Chiefs 5-4 at Tufts University on Thursday night. It was the third straight time this season that the Trojans have beaten the Chiefs.

The Trojans jumped out to a quick 2-0 first inning lead against Chiefs veteran starter Keith Forbes. Former Harvard and Can-Am League standout Morgan Brown got things underway when he drew a leadoff walk. Forbes struck out Danny Binz for the first out but Pete Creamer and Don Walter hit back to back doubles giving the Trojans the two run lead.

It stayed a 2-0 game until the top of the fourth inning as Griffin wiggled out of trouble in the first (Vinny Pennell single), the second (Mike Andre double, Mike Barbati infield single, Rick Vail inning ending doubleplay), and the third (Tony Deshler two out triple).

The Arlington fourth inning started quietly enough as Forbes struck out Walter swinging leading off the inning. Trouble began to brew when Sam Perkins singled to right. Nick Napoli followed and delivered a two run shot over the 367’ sign in left-center, doubling the Trojans lead to 4-0. Arlington wasn’t done yet as Kevin Hart then singled and went to second when Forbes’ pickoff attempt went astray. Hart moved to third when Eddie McDonald beat out an infield chopper to second base and scored what proved to be the game winner when Forbes uncorked a wild pitch making it 5-0.

Tim Dunphy, in relief of Forbes, held the Trojans scoreless in the top of the fifth and the Chiefs chipped two runs off the lead in the bottom of the inning. Nick Leva walked and went to third on a Deshler one out double to right-center. Griffin returned the wild pitch favor, throwing one of his own, allowing Leva to score the Chiefs first run and sending Deshler to third. A Pennell RBI infield grounder plated Deshler as the Chiefs closed the gap to 5-2 before Justin Crisafulli singled and Andre flew to center to end the inning.

Dunphy was sharp again in the sixth, retiring the Trojans in order.

The Chiefs let yet another scoring opportunity pass in the bottom of the inning when Mike DiCato led off with a bloop single to right center and stole second. That was as far as he got as Griffin retired Barbati on a flyout, Boleski on a popup and Leva on a groundout.

Dunphy retired the left-handed hitting Wilson to start the seventh before giving way to Tufts right-hander Jake Crawford.

The Chiefs made some two out noise in the bottom of the seventh. Griffin got Jesse Bruinsma on a groundout to Binz at second base and Deshler on a liner to Wilson in center for the first two outs. When Pennell (pictured left) drew a walk, Arlington Manager Joe Hart summoned Chris DiCecca out of the Trojan's bullpen. Crisafulli greeted him with a two run bomb, the 89th of his Chiefs career, to straight-away left field to make it a one run game. DiCecca ended the evening and the Chiefs comeback hopes when he got Andre to groundout unassisted to Hart at first base. 

The Chiefs out hit the Trojans 9-7. Forbes (1-1, 2.80 ERA) suffered his first loss of the year while surrendering five runs (four earned), six hits and struck out five in his four innings of work. He uncharacteristically hurt his own cause with two errant pickoff attempts and a wild pitch. Dunphy was once again solid out of the bullpen, working 2.1 scoreless innings and allowing one hit.

The Chiefs are off on Friday before a busy weekend awaits them. On Saturday, they host the Mooney Dental Tanners in an afternoon doubleheader at Tufts University with the first game scheduled for 1:30 PM. 

On Sunday, the Chiefs homestand continues when the Watertown Reds visit Tufts for a single game at 1:30 PM

By Justin McAllister
Malden Evening News & Medford Daily Mercury 

Malden, MA- Talk about a change of scenery.

Yesterday morning recently graduated UMass-Amherst slugger Peter Copa was showing soon to be Malden Catholic baseball prospects the intricacies of fielding and hitting at the second week of the Lancer baseball camp at O’Donnell Field in the shadow of his former high school.

Today? Sometime around 11 o’clock this morning Copa will be getting off a plane in Phoenix, Arizona, on his way to the first day of his life as a professional baseball player.

Copa, a lifelong Malden resident and 2007 Malden Cathoilc graduate, who until today was in the midst of his fourth season with the Andre Chiefs of Medford in the local Intercity League, yesterday agreed to a professional baseball contract with Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and will officially sign as a free agent today.

Copa will embark on his new career as a member of the Angels rookie team in Arizona.

It all came quickly for Copa, who went undrafted in the recent MLB entry draft in June and had attended several professional baseball tryout camps since the end of his senior season at UMass.

But any timing was good timing if professional baseball was in the cards, Copa told the Malden Evening News and Medford Daily Mercury.

“When (Angels scout) Nick Gorneau called, all I wanted to know was what time my plane left and how I got to the Angels training facility when I landed in Arizona,” Copa said.” I was thrilled to hear the news. Who wouldn’t be? This is my dream and the dream of probably everyone I ever played with through the years at Malden Cathoilc.”

When he signs his contract, Copa will be the first Malden resident to sign professionally in baseball in over 15 years, since pitcher Keith Forbes inked a pact with the San Diego Padres after being selected in the the 1996 MLB draft.

Copa’s signing with the Angels came as no surprise to his former high school coach Steve Freker of Malden Cathoilc.

"He’s one of the most driven players I’ve ever coached,” Coach Freker said of Copa last night. He’s always put on a ton of time into getting better ever since I’ve known him and like all the other players I’ve coached who signed pro contracts, he’s gotten better at each level."

"I think he’ll continue to get better, that’s the type of player he is,” added Coach Freker, who’s now seen nine of his former players either sign or be drafted professionally, four from his Malden Catholic teams and five from the teams he guided as a former Malden High Baseball coach from 1985-1999.