By Bruce Tillman 
Medford, MA-They had it, they handed it away on a silver platter, and they desperately and unsuccessfully tried to take it back. 

Such was the story of the Chiefs in a hard to take 7-4 loss to the Testa Corp. Bombers in the opening game of their best of five series at Huskins Field on Friday evening. With the loss, the Chiefs find themselves in a one game to none hole, with Game Two at East Boston Stadium facing them on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM. 

Chiefs’ starter Mike DiCato never really found the grove that made him the go to guy during the regular season.  

In the top of the first inning, DiCato got the first out when Jay DeFillipo popped up. Vin Eruzione followed with a hard line single to center. The Chiefs defense took over as Josh Klimkiewicz bounced into a crisp, 5-4-3 (Mike Andre to Mike Baillargeon to Peter Copa) doubleplay. 

In the Chiefs first, Bombers starter Bobby Giarrantani got Brendan Pyburn and Baillargeon to both ground out, walked Jeff Bercume, who stole second, but came out unscathed when Copa flew to center. 

Nick Martinho led off the Bombers second inning with a long double to right-center. DiCato then struck out Stan DeMartinis swinging for the first out. He walked walked Mike Adessa on four straight pitches to put runners on first and second with one away. DiCato pitched his way out of it when both Steve Wadsworth and Joe Papa both grounded out to end the inning. 

The Chiefs came out swinging in the bottom of the second. Andre drilled the first pitch he saw into right field for a single. Justin Crisafulli followed with a double to left putting the Chiefs in business with runners on second and third with nobody out. Giarrantani then got Brian Macrina to ground sharply to third, freezing the runners for the first out. Bob McCarthy followed with a high hopper fielder’s choice RBI to Eruzione at second that scored Andre. Hal Landers then hit a weak fly to shallow left that ended the inning. 

DiCato had to pitch out of trouble again in the top of the third. After Steve Buitkus grounded out, DeFillippo singled to left. Eruzione then grounded to Copa at first for out number two. DiCato, obviously struggling, walked Klimkiewicz and Martinho in succession to load the bases. But he found his best form briefly when he reared back and struck out DeMartinis to end the inning as the Chiefs clung to the 1-0 lead. 

Giarrantani set the Chiefs down in order in the bottom of the third (Pyburn flyout, Baillargeon & Bercume groundouts) and DiCato had his strongest inning of the night when he kept the Bombers quiet in the top of the fourth.  

Crisafulli’s two out single was the all the Chiefs could muster in the bottom of the fourth as the game went into the fifth with the Chiefs still holding on to the 1-0 lead. 

The Bombers fifth started quietly enough when DiCato got DeFillipo swinging for the first out. Eruzione then singled into the shortstop hole and DiCato hit Klimkiewicz with a pitch. He continued to struggle and walked Martinho to load the bases with one out. DeMartinis then hit a chopper back to DiCato, who instead of coming home with what looked like a certain 1-2-3 doubleplay, elected to throw to second base. DiCato’s throw sailed into centerfield for an error and suddenly the Bombers had a 2-1 gift lead. DiCato got Adessa to ground out to Pyburn for the inning’s second out, with both Martinho an DeMartinis moving to second and third. Chris Foundas came on from the bullpen and walked Wadsworth to load the bases. The reliever, who has been hot and cold for the Chiefs this season, then surrendered a huge two RBI single to Joe Papa that extended the Bombers lead to 4-1. 

The Chiefs went quietly in the fifth (McCarthy flyout, Landers groundout, Pyburn flyout) and the Bombers opened up some space in the top of the sixth. DeFillipo led off with a single and Foundas, after two unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempts, struck out Eruzione for the first out. Klimkiewicz was intentionally walked and he got Martinho to pop up to Baillargeon for the second out. The Chiefs and Foundas looked like they were going to escape the inning when DeMartinis hit a foul ball down the right field line. The Chiefs usually outstanding defense abandoned them once again as the ball ended up going off Copa’s glove, with his back to the plate, with both Baillargeon and Landers looking like they had a better shot at making the catch, giving DeMartinis new life. As fate would have it, the ICL veteran deposited Foundas’ next pitch over the right field fence for a three run homer and a seemingly insurmountable 7-1 Testa lead. 

The Chiefs started to show some life with two outs in the sixth inning. Baillargeon flew to right for the first out and Bercume grounded out to Klimkiewicz unassisted for out number two. Copa then doubled to left and Andre followed with a two run homer over the 379’ sign in right-center that cut the Bombers lead to 7-3. Giarrantani got Crisafulli to ground out to end the inning. 

Rob Machado, who has been nothing short of outstanding lately, came on for Foundas and worked a solid and scoreless seventh. 

Medford, MA- And now they can rest. At least for a few days. 

After a furious stretch, with twenty four games on the docket in the last twenty eight days, the Chiefs earned themselves a second place regular season finish with a sweep of a two site, three team doubleheader on Sunday.  With the wins, the club finishes at 16-11-3 and gets a first round playoff bye and a ticket into the ICL semi-finals. 

GAME ONE- Chiefs 3, Blue Sox 0
Rookie Rob Machado served up the best performance of his young ICL career in the opener, coming within one out of throwing a no-hitter, in a 3-0 shutout of the Lexington Blue Sox at Tufts University on Sunday afternoon. 

Machado lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh inning when Blue Sox rookie pinch-hitter Chris Shaw lined a clean opposite field single to left. 

The game was scoreless through the first 2 ½ innings until the Chiefs picked up all of their runs in the bottom of the third against Drew Brzozowski. Hal Landers got things going when he led off with a double to right-center. Leadoff man Brendan Pyburn followed and moved Landers to third with a perfect sacrifice bunt. Mike Bailargeon then stepped up a drilled a double to left scoring Landers as the Chiefs took a 1-0 lead. Jeff Bercume then grounded out to second base moving Bailargeon to third and Peter Copa delivered him a pitch later with a single to left making it 2-0. Mike Andre then doubled to left scoring Copa giving the Chiefs a 3-0 lead. 

Machado took care of the rest. The right-hander from UMass-Amherst, who was previously a standout at Malden Catholic, was perfect through the ten batters of the game before surrendering a one out walk to Ross Curley in the fourth. He had 1-2-3 innings in the first, second, third, fifth and sixth.  

In the seventh, Machado got the first out by striking out Boston College’s Kyle Prohovich looking. Clean-up hitter Matt McEvoy followed and bounced back to Machado for out number two. Shaw pinch hit for Ben Hewett and drilled the first pitch he saw to left to break up the no hit bid. Machado gained the shutout when he got Tom Haugh to hit a chopper back to him to end the game. 

Machado threw just 81 pitches, struck out three, walked two, and raised his season mark to 2-3.

GAME TWO- Chiefs 5, Americans 1
There was more work to do for the Chiefs as they packed up their gear and headed across town to Playstead Park for a 4:00 PM date with the Americans.

This one had serious playoff implications as an Americans win would have put them in the driver’s seat for a second place finish. Lefty Dylan Ellis (4-1) had other ideas as he stopped the Americans on just four hits in the 5-1 complete game win. 

The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Americans ace Dave Martin, who entered the game with a 3-0 mark and league leading 0.26 ERA, having allowed just two earned runs in 27 innings. Peter Copa drew a leadoff walk but Martin caught Mike Andre looking for the inning’s first out. Justin Crisafulli followed and drilled a long single off the base of the fence in left-center that moved Copa to third. With runners on the corners, rookie Dario Pizzano hit a high chopper to Americans second baseman Luke Begley, who only had time to force Crisafulli at second, allowing Copa to score. With Pizzano running on the pitch, catcher Bob McCarthy then lined a single to right with Pizzano taking third. Hal Landers drew Martin’s second walk of the inning to load the bases. Americans first baseman Dave Ahern then made an outstanding grab of a hard hit Brendan Pyburn one-hopper and beat him to the bag to avert further scoring and keep it a 1-0 affair. 

Ahern’s play loomed even bigger in the bottom of the inning when the Americans tied the game at 1-1. Ellis got the first two outs of the inning (Mike Kalfopoulos fly-out, Mike Ferriero strike out) before walking Steve Napier on a 3-2 pitch. Jay Olson made that walk hurt when he drilled a blast off the fence in center scoring Napier to tie the game. Ellis kept it even when he struck out Steve Tahmoush to end the inning. 

The Chiefs came right back in the top of the third to re-take the lead at 2-1. Martin retired Mike Bailargeon on a fly to left for the first out and Jeff Bercume drew a walk. Copa then bounced back to Martin for the second out of the inning with Bercume taking second. Andre then delivered what proved to be the game winning hit when he singled to right scoring Bercume. Martin got Crisafulli to pop up to end the inning. 

Ellis took charge in the next two frames retiring six in a row, including striking out the American’s side in order in the fourth. 

The Chiefs gave their southpaw some breathing room in the top of the fifth. Bailargeon led off and drilled his first ICL home run to right center that jumped the lead to 3-1. Bercume was then hit by a Martin pitch and Copa drew his second walk of the game to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Andre then dropped a perfect sacrifice bunt moving the Bercume and Copa up a base. Crisafulli came up big and lined a single to center scoring both runners and upping the margin to 5-1. 

Ellis survived an outfield miscue by Bercume in centerfield off the bat Napier to lead off the fifth and Martin held the Chiefs scoreless in the top of the sixth. 

The Americans appeared poised to mount a comeback in the bottom of the sixth but Ellis and some outstanding Chiefs defense prevented that. Mike DelPonte led off with a single up the middle and Ahern drew a walk to put two men on with nobody out. Ellis then got a huge out when he struck out K.C. McCarthy swinging. Kalfopoulos then hit a hard hit ball at Copa at first, who made a nice play behind the bag, and beat Kalfopoulos to the base for the second out. With runners now at second and third, Ferreiro hit a tough chopper at Andre at third. The Chiefs veteran charged and gloved the ball on a short hop and threw Ferreiro out at first to end the inning at keep the game at 5-1. 

Martin retired the Chiefs in order in the top of the seventh. 

Ellis got Napier to ground to Bailargeon to open the Medford seventh. Olson then kept the Americans hopes alive when he collected his second hit of the day to right. But it was all Ellis from there as he got Tahmoush to hit into a fielder’s choice and ended the game when Begley grounded to Pyburn. 

Ellis, from Merrimack College & Gloucester, struck out eight and lowered his ERA to 1.44.

Medford, MA- The Lexington Blue Sox scored five times in the fourth inning to erase a 1-0 lead and knock off the Chiefs 5-1 at Playstead Park on Friday.

Two walks, a hit batsman and doubles by Ben Hewett and Eric Poling, along with a Tom Haugh single, provided the Sox with the runs.

Mike Andre and Jeff Bercume both had two hits for the Chiefs.

Mike DiCato (5-3) went the first 5.1 innings and allowed six hits  while striking out four.

Left-hander Connor Bishop worked 1.2 innings of scoreless relief for the Chiefs.

Ageless veteran Barry Foster (1-1) went the route for the Blue Sox scattering six hits while striking out five.

The Chiefs and Blue Sox meet again on Sunday at 12:45 PM at Tufts University. Following that game, the Chiefs will travel across town to Playstead Park at 4:00 PM for a make-up game with the Medford Americans. That game will go a long way in determining the final playoff seedings.

The best of three first round of the playoffs are expected to begin on Tuesday. The first and second place teams will receive first round byes.

Chiefs Chatter....Brian Macrina picked up his 214th career hit on Friday to move past Alex Masel (213) and into eighth place on the all-time Chiefs list......Mike Andre reached a milestone when he recorded the 100th hit of his Chiefs career in the fourth inning and now stands 17th on the all-time list....... Mike Langston (538 hits) is the Chiefs all-time hit leader followed by Justin Crisafulli in second place, who has recorded 482 so far in his career.  Mike Barnes (365), Dave Clivio (328), Warren Olson (304), Steve Daley (273) and Hank Landers (238), along with Macrina and Masel, are the Chiefs who have had more than 200 career hits...... For a complete listing of Chiefs all-time leaders, click on "Career Leaders"  on the top left of the Chiefs homepage.....The Chiefs were undecided on thier starting pitching for Sunday..... Bruce Tillman