Andre Chiefs

Watertown, MA- The Chiefs rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning, all with two out and nobody on base, to break a 1-1 tie and send them home from Watertown with a 5-1 win.

Tony Deshler got things going in the seventh when he blooped a two out single to right off Reds starter Charlie DeFrancesco. Deshler went to second on a wild pitch and Hal Landers delivered him with the go ahead run when he doubled to left-center just out of the reach of the diving Josh Chasse. Catcher Bob McCarthy followed and lined a single to right scoring Landers to give the Chiefs 3-1 lead. Brendan Casey replaced DeFrancesco and Mike Baillargeon greeted him with his fifth homer of the year, a two run shot over the left field wall making it 5-1.

On the other side of the ledger, Dylan Ellis was outstanding once again on the mound and raised his record to 5-0 on the season. The former Merrimack College southpaw allowed only a second inning unearned run and scattered three hits on the night. He struck out a season high ten batters, and retired the last ten men he faced in row.

Watertown took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when veteran Steve Busby drilled a one out double to right. Bryan Evans followed with a chopper to Baillargeon at shortstop which he charged and threw low to first allowing Busby to score.

The Chiefs tied the game in the top of the third when Brian Macrina led off with a gap shot double to left-center. Deshler bunted Macrina to third and Landers RBI groundout to second scored him with the equalizer.

Jared Freni (1-1) will get the start when the 10-3-1 Chiefs host the Reading Bulldogs on Wednesday night at 6:00 PM at Tufts University.

Medford, MA- Jared Freni struck out ten in six innings of work, Mike Andre hit a three run homer and had four RBI’s and veteran Justin Crisafulli added a solo home run, to power the Chiefs past the Reading Bulldogs 9-4 at Tufts University on Wednesday.

Freni, who previously starred at UMass-Amherst, allowed just four hits and raised his record to 2-1 on the season.

Andre, who co-captained Merrimack College in 2009, went two for four including his sixth inning homer over the right field wall. For Crisafulli, it was the 87^th homer of his long ICL career. The former Cleveland Indians slugger now has 499 hits in a Chiefs uniform.

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning as Bryant University’s Brian O’Neil matched Freni pitch for pitch until Crisafulli deposited his solo shot over the left field wall.

The Chiefs scored five times in the fifth inning on singles by Hal Landers, Bob McCarthy, Andre (RBI), Peter Copa, Matt Anderson and Crisafulli.

It quickly went to 9-1 in the bottom of sixth inning when Andre’s homer scored McCarthy and Brandeis University's Tony Deshler ahead of him.

Rob Machado came out of the Chiefs’ bullpen to begin the seventh and got touched up for a bases clearing double from Pete Castoldi that accounted for the 9-4 final.

Worcester, MA- Chiefs infielder Mike Baillargeon of Worcester signed a professional contract with the Worcester Tornadoes of the Can-Am League on Wednesday. Baillargeon was hitting a lofty .385 with five homers and 14 RBI, thru the first fifteen games of the Chiefs season.

Baillargeon hit a two run homer for the Chiefs at Watertown late Tuesday night and the Tornadoes came calling immediately after the game. Baillargeon signed a contract on Wednesday morning and was in uniform that night against Pittsfield. He has gone 0-2 for the Tornadoes in his first two games. Baillargeon and the Tornadoes are spending the Fourth of July weekend in Canada playing a three game series against Quebec City.

The former Assumption star had previously signed professionally and played winter ball with the Weribee Giants in Australia earlier this year. He was named as the NE-10 Player of the Year in 2009 and selected to the Rawlings Baseball NCAA D-2 All American team and to the NCBW all-America team. Baillargeon was also named to the ECAC D-2, NCBWA, ABCA and Daktronics all East teams. He batted .393 as a college senior with a team-record 84 hits, and 11 homers. He was named  team captain three consecutive years at Assumption and set career marks in games (187), games started(187), at bats(731), hits(267), triples(15) and sacrifice flies (11).

Baillargeon hit .261 for the Chiefs last summer with a homer and nine RBI's in 15 games. He becomes the second Chief to sign this year as centerfielder Jeff Bercume had earlier signed with the Oakland A's. Bercume is currently hitting .242 for Oakland's single A affiliate in Vancouver.

To replace Baillargeon on the active roster, the Chiefs have activated former Cassell slugger Tim Dempsey. Dempsey has been on the DL since the start of the season with a nose fracture. He had previously starred at UConn and later UMass-Lowell and was voted as the 2006 ICL's Playoff MVP when he led Cassell to their first ICL championship. From 2006-2008 Dempsey hit .390 for Cassell with six home runs.

Wakefield, MA- Former Trinity right-hander Kevin Tidmarsh spun a complete game five-hitter and his mates backed him with a dozen hits as the Merchants knocked off the Chiefs 5-1 at Walsh Field.

The Merchants took a 2-0 lead that they never relinquished in the bottom of the first inning off Chiefs starter and loser Tim Dunphy. Former Red Sox farmhand Steve Langone gave the Merchants a quick 1-0 lead when he tripled in leadoff man John Zagaria from Lynn University who had singled. Mike Sorrentino made it a 2-0 lead when he drove Langone in with another single.

The game stayed at 2-0 until Mike Baillargeon hit his fourth homer of the year, just inside the left field foul pole, leading off the fourth inning.

That was as close (2-1) as the Chiefs would come on this night. A triple by Orlowitz, leading off the Wakefield fourth inning, followed by consecutive singles from Jon Davison, Dale Crispin and Matt Russo made it 3-1 and chased Dunphy. Tufts’ right-hander Pat O’Donnell came on with the bases loaded and one out and promptly struck out Zagaria. When the third strike got a few feet away from Chiefs catcher Bob McCarthy, Crispin attempted to score and was out at the plate in a peculiar inning ending doubleplay.

The Chiefs threatened to tie it up but came up empty in the top of the fifth. Matt Anderson got things going with a single and McCarthy was hit by a Tidmarsh pitch. After two unsuccessful bunt attempts, Brian Macrina lined out sharply to left. Hal Landers then flew out to centerfield for the second out. With the Baillargeon at the plate, Tidmarsh threw a wild pitch to move both runners up into scoring position. Baillargeon was caught looking on an outside corner, full count, fastball that got the Merchants out of the inning.

Wakefield got some breathing room when they ran the score to 5-1 in the sixth. The Merchants got to O’Donnell on infield singles by Scott Searles and Langone and a big two RBI double from Davison.

Tidmarsh blanked the Chiefs in the top of the sixth and lefty Kevin Gilchrist worked the bottom of the inning for the Chiefs, surrendering only a one out single to Russo.

The Chiefs got two men on base in the top of the seventh on a McCarthy single and walk to Landers but could not score when Tidmarsh got Baillargeon to line sharply to Orlowitz in centerfield to end the game.

Dunphy (0-2), worked 3.1 innings and gave up three runs (all earned), allowed seven hits and struck out two.  

Tidmarsh now 3-0, struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. Eleven of the Chiefs outs were hit to the outfielders.

The 9-3-1 Chiefs return to ICL action on Tuesday night when they travel to Victory Field in Watertown to meet the Reds at 8:00 PM.

Medford, MA – The Chiefs concluded their four game homestand with a brisk 4-2 win over the expansion Reading Bulldogs on Friday night at Tufts University.

Starter and winner Mike DiCato got the Bulldogs side in order in the top of the first inning, including two strikeouts, and his mates went right to work with the bats in the home half of the inning.

Reading right-hander Dan Eisenberg of Tufts University hit leadoff batter Bob McCarthy with a pitch. Mike Baillargeon followed with a single just inside the third base bag to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Mike Gedman’s grounder forced Baillargeon at second and left runners on the corners with one out. Cleanup man Peter Copa was next and his RBI grounder to short scored McCarthy to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Justin Crisafulli was next up and drew a two out walk. Mike Andre then lined an Eisenberg pitch to right scoring Gedman to up the lead to 2-0. Eisenberg got Matt Anderson to ground sharply to third baseman T.J. Murphy to end the inning.

Reading got a two out single from Kevin O’Leary in the top of the second and Eisenberg settled down and retired the Chiefs in order in the bottom of the inning.

The Bulldogs cut the lead in half in the top of the third and threatened for more. Bill Cataldo got things started with a line single to center. Joe Harvey then bounced to Andre at third base with Cataldo taking second. DiCato struck out Endicott’s Mike Russo swinging for the second out. DiCato uncharacteristically walked Steve Buitkus and Alex Fischer in succession to load the bases. Andrew Bishop of Williams College followed and got Reading on the board when he chopped an infield single between DiCato and Baillargeon at short. DiCato preserved the Chiefs'  2-1 lead when he struck out St. Anselm’s T.J. Murphy with the bases juiced to end the threat.

Eisenberg got the Chiefs 1-2-3 again in the bottom of the third.

The Bulldogs made some noise in the fourth when DiCato hit O’Leary with a pitch to start the inning. Catcher John Halsey then drilled liner right at Tony Deshler in centerfield with O’Leary running on the pitch. Deshler made the catch and threw a strike to Anderson at first to double up O’Leary. Cataldo then singled again but the inning ended when Harvey grounded out to Mike Barbati at second base.

Nothing doing for the Chiefs in the bottom of the fourth as Eisenberg got the side in order for the third straight time.

DiCato started strong in the fifth by striking out Russo and Buitkus before walking Fischer. The game moved to the bottom of the fifth when Bishop grounded out to Baillargeon end the inning.

The Chiefs picked up a much needed run in the bottom of the fifth. Consecutive singles from Barbati and Deshler ended Eisenberg’s night as Reading Manager Matt Morrison brought in former Chief and Malden Catholic lefty Chris Labriola of Central Florida. McCarthy greeted his ex-batterymate with a RBI single to left scoring Barbati and giving the Chiefs a 3-1 lead. Labriola averted further trouble when he got Baillargeon to fly to the warning track in straight-away center, Gedman to groundout and ended the inning when Russo made a nice running grab of a Copa shot to the left-centerfield gap.

Southpaw Jeff DeCarlo spelled DiCato to start the sixth and immediately got into trouble when Murphy singled to left and O’Leary delivered a check swing single to right. Halsey then moved both runners into scoring position with a well placed sacrifice bunt. With the red hot Cataldo at the plate, DeCarlo threw a wild pitch allowing Murphy to score, to chop the lead to 3-2, and sending O’Leary to third representing the tying run. With the Chiefs infield drawn in, Andre turned in the defensive gem of the night when he snagged Cataldo’s liner that was labeled for the left field corner for the second out. DeCarlo left O’Leary stranded ninety feet away when he came up big and struck out Harvey to end the inning.

The Chiefs responded by adding an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. Veteran Justin Crisafulli led off with hit number 497 of his Chiefs career and Brandeis’ Eric Rosenberg came on to pinch run for him. Andre followed with his second hit of the night, a single to rightfield, that pushed Rosenberg to second. Anderson then moved Rosenberg and Andre each up a base with a sacrifice bunt. Labriola then caught Barbati looking on a full count outside corner fastball for the inning's second out. Deshler was next and he legged out an infield single to the shortstop hole scoring his Brandeis teammate Rosenberg with the fourth Chiefs run. Labriola got McCarthy to fly out to center to close the inning and send the game to the seventh.

DeCarlo got Russo on a comebacker to the mound, Buitkus on a grounder to Barbati at second and then struck out Fischer looking to end the game and chalk up his first save of the season. 

DiCato (2-0), who recorded his second win of the year to go along with a couple of saves, struck out seven and allowed four hits in his 76 pitch, five inning outing.

The Chief enjoy an off day on Saturday and will travel to Walsh Field at Wakefield High School to visit the Merchants on Sunday at 5:00 PM.