Andre Chiefs

Malden, MA- Jared Freni went the first five innings to pick up the win when the Chiefs blanked the Somerville Royals 5-0 at Maplewood Park on Monday night.

Freni scattered just three hits and struck out ten batters in the season opener. Lefty Tim Dunphy and right-hander Mike DiCato kept the shutout intact by each throwing a shutout inning in the sixth and seventh respectively.

The Chiefs jumped on Somerville southpaw Kevin Sinatra and took a 4-0 lead in the home half of the second. Rookie catcher Jordan Pallazola got things going when he recorded his first ICL hit and went to second when the Royals' outfield lost the ball in the twilight sky. Shortstop Nate Witkowski followed with a single, scoring Pallazola, to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. The Chiefs' used back to back triples from Mike Barbati and Danny DiMare to jump the lead to 3-0. A Tony Serino infield groundout then plated DiMare for the Chiefs fourth run of the inning.

The Chiefs the final run of the night came in the bottom of the third but they threatened for more. Peter Copa bounced a single up the middle and Mike Andre drew a walk. Pallazola followed and moved Copa and Andre up to second and third with an infield grounder to the right side. Witkowski and Barbati then worked consecutive walks that made it 5-0 and chased Sinatra from the mound in favor of Franklin Pierce righty Ryan Covelle. Covelle kept it a five run game when he got DiMare to bounce into a 6-4-3 doubleplay.

Freni was dominant in his first start of the year and struck out the side both the third and fifth innings before giving way to Dunphy and then DiCato. Dunphy, who had a strikeout of his own in the sixth, surrendered a leadoff single to Jake Cintolo before the Chiefs turned a Copa to Witkowski to Copa 3-6-3 doubleplay. DiCato also looked sharp and struck out two batters in the top of seventh.

Chiefs Notebook....Freni threw a no-hitter in the 2015 season opener against Reading at Endicott College on June 2. With tonight's win, Freni raises his career ICL record to 58-10.....Steve Gambale made his return to Chiefs for the first time since the 2003 season. The former Medford High and University of Maine standout last appeared for the club as their starting shortstop way back in 2003. He has been tuning up this spring by getting some at bats with the Senior League Somerville Senators.....The win was the 599th of Manager Chuck Andre's career.....The Chiefs added some pitching depth today when they picked up former California Angels 19th Round draftee Anthony Sullivan. Sullivan, who had a standout college career at St. John University in the Big East, last pitched for the Worcester Tornadoes in the Can-Am League.....The Chiefs are expected to send former Washington Nationals left-hander Mitchell Clegg to the bump when they host the Reading Bulldogs on Wednesday night at Maplewood at 8:15 PM...... 

Tonight's Box Score at www.intercityleaguebaseball.com
Game Story by Bruce Tillman for the Chiefs & Intercity League Baseball

Andre Chiefs

The Franchise- The Chiefs franchise carries a winning percentage of almost .700 over the 2,700 games they have played over seven decades. The franchise has won 19 League Championships and 24 Regular Season Pennants. Thirteen of those championships came when they were known as the Hosmer Chiefs and the last six were won under the name of the Andre Chiefs. In 1966, the Chiefs were named as the top semi-professional team in America. Since 1957, they have had only five managers, Ernie Ardolino (1957-1960), Lenny Dempsey (1961-1967), Joe O’Donnell (1968-1981), Bob DeFelice (1982-1984) and current manager Chuck Andre 1989-present. The franchise was named as the “Team of the Decade” for the 1960’s, 1970’s & 1990’s.

The 2017 Coaching Staff
Chuck Andre-Manager (Boston College) completed his 26th year at the helm in 2016. Andre, who has a career managerial record of 621-339-69, has piloted the club to 24 playoff appearances, nine regular season pennants, and six Intercity League Championships. He won his 600th career game in June of 2016. A former right-handed pitcher, Andre played for the Chiefs in the 1970’s & 1980’s. He has missed the ICL postseason just twice as a player or manager in 35 Intercity League seasons. He was inducted into the Medford High School Hall of Fame in 1995.

John Veneziano- Coach (Westfield State) Veneziano joined the Chiefs Staff for the 2012 season. A former Westfield State standout outfielder, Veneziano played for the Chiefs and was an outfielder on many Chiefs championship teams of the late 1970’s and 1980’s.

Anthony Durkee- Coach (Salem State). Coach Durkee returned to the Chiefs dugout in 2012 after spending a few seasons in Florida. He first came aboard with the Chiefs as a player in 2006. Former standout at Medford High, graduating in 2004.

The Chiefs organization suffered a major loss in April of 2017 with the passing of longtime Bench Coach Steve Calabresi.

The Tradition- The Chiefs baseball tradition runs deep, as sons have followed their fathers and grandfathers in wearing the uniform. Over the years, playing for the Chiefs became a sandlot baseball fantasy place where batboys became players, ball boys became major league pitchers, and many became baseball legends. As former manager Joe O’Donnell (1968-1981) said at a Chiefs reunion banquet, “once a Chief, always a Chief.” Still today, Chiefs’ players from decades gone by return to watch their team play. There always seems to be a former Chief or two in the crowd.

Alumni- Through the years, Chiefs mystique, championships, and professionalism, has remained constant. Almost 600 semi-professional ballplayers at one time or another have worn the Chiefs uniform. It is estimated that over 120 of those players at some point signed a professional baseball contract. Two former Chiefs have even appeared in the World Series, Mike Pagliarulo with the Minnesota Twins in 1991 and Kevin McGlinchy with the Atlanta Braves in 1999. Pagliarulo returned to Chiefs as a member of the 2016 Coaching Staff before being named Hitting Coach of the Miami Marlins prior to the 2017 season.

Hall of Famers - Forty-five players or coaches who have worn the Chiefs' uniform have been inducted into the ICL Hall of Fame.
Inducted in 2010: Joe O'Donnell, Fred Knox, John Hosmer, Lenny Dempsey, Bob DeFelice, Dave Clivio, Steve Freker & Ed DiGiacomo.
Inducted in 2011: Joe Armstrong, Hank Landers, Ellis "Sonny" Lane, Dave Marsters, Jim Mlezar, Dave Polcari & Eddie Rideout.
Inducted in 2012: Richie DiGiacomo, Sammy Greenwood, Bill Kelly, Mike Langston, Tom Mandile, Jackie Mountain & Mike Romano.
Inducted in 2013: Ernie Ardolino, Ari Koufos, Alex Masel, Warren Olson, Mark Santini, Bob Spinney, Roger Ueltzen & Ralph Walker.
Inducted in 2014: Mike Barnes, Shawn Brickman, Steve Daley, Bob Iandoli, Gordie Lewis, Ed McCarty & John "Trixie" Trischitta.
Inducted in 2015: Fran DeAngelis, Billy Dunn, Frankie Lemos, Vin Martelli, Terry McGann, Kevin O'Brien, Joe Santagate & Steve Silvio.

Maplewood Park at Malden Catholic Located in Malden, Massachusetts- The Chiefs play their night games on the artificial surface of Maplewood Park that is located on the campus of Malden Catholic.

Huskins Field at Tufts University Located in Medford, Massachusetts- The Chiefs play their daytime home games at beautiful Huskins Field which is located on the campus of Tufts University, considered to be one of the finest natural grass surfaces in the Northeast.

Record Book- The Chiefs have had three of the last five ICL MVP’s. Jeff Bercume (2012), Jared Freni (2013) and Johnny Welch (2014). They also have bragging rights to two of the all-time winning pitchers in ICL history, Fred Knox (1957-1973) and Dave Marsters (1989-2008), who both recorded over 110 career ICL victories. Former Cleveland Indian outfielder Justin Crisafulli is the career home run leader with 91, hit leader with 567, and RBI leader with 417. For a complete history of the Chiefs franchise visit our website at www.AndreChiefs.com and click on the “Chiefs History” tab.

The Chiefs continue to develop young talent from the college level and at the same time showcase players with professional baseball experience. For information e-mail AndreChiefs@aol.com or visit the Chiefs popular website at www.AndreChiefs.com

Malden, MA- The Chiefs will open their 2016 Intercity League regular season on Monday night when they host the Somerville Royals at Maplewood Park on the campus of Malden Catholic at 8:15 PM.

The Chiefs have a busy first week of the season. On Wednesday they will host the Reading Bulldogs at Maplewood at 8:15 PM before begining a two game road trip on Thursday when they travel to Lexington to meet the Blue Sox in a rematch of the last five championship series. They conclude the week on Friday when they head to Endicott College in Beverly to visit the Reading Bulldogs at 8:00 PM.

Click on 2016 Schedule & Results to see the Chiefs' complete schedule.

The entire 2016 Intercity League schedule is posted on the league's website www.intercityleaguebaseball.com. 

Melrose, MA – It was the baseball equivalent of Ali vs. Frazier, Hagler vs. Hearns, or Marciano vs. Charles. The Lexington Blue Sox and Andre Chiefs stood toe-to-toe and exchanged blows before the Blue Sox Josue Feliciano delivered the knockout punch in the bottom of the ninth to give the Sox a 16-15 victory and the title.

Both teams appeared to be down and out only to get back up and rally to keep going what will go down as one the greatest playoff games in league history.

Down 15-14 after the Chiefs scored in the top of the ninth, the Blue Sox had one more rally in them finally bringing the season to a close.

Ross Curley led off with a double to center and took third on the overthrow by Chiefs center fielder Tony Serino. With the squeeze play on, Garret Smith bunted down the first line and as Curley crossed the plate with the tying run, Smith was safe when his bunt hit the first base bag and rolled into fair territory. Mike Hart reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second. Dan Graham lifted a fly ball to center and both runners tagged and moved up a base. The Chiefs appealed that Smith had left the base early and the umpire ruled him out for the second out of the inning. The Chiefs intentionally walked Steve Gath and John Puttress worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. All of this coming against the Chiefs ace Jared Freni in his third inning of relief work. This set the stage for Feliciano, who bunted for a single to start the Sox seventh inning rally. After swinging at the first pitch, he then bunted the next pitch down the first base line and as Hart raced home with the winning run, Feliciano slid into first to avoid the tag and give the Sox the championship.

No matter how you measure the game, it will go down as an epic battle. Game Three started on Thursday August 20 at 8:36 p.m. After almost three hours of playing, a 29-minute delay occurred when the outfield sprinklers came on. With no way to turn them off, the game was suspended and would be resumed on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. Mother Nature intervened and the game was rained out and postponed until Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Finally, 67 hours and 45 minutes after the game began play started again. The teams played three more innings that took an hour and 16 minutes to play. The game took at total of 4:40 to play including the 29-minute delay. From first pitch to last play was a total of 68 hours and one minute, or almost three days.

Besides being epic in time, the teams combined for 31 runs, 40 hits, five doubles, three home runs, 15 walks, 16 strikeouts and the nine moundsmen threw 450 pitches, 281 for strikes. The Chiefs and Sox left a combined 33 runners on base, including the bases loaded seven times. The third and eighth innings were the only ones in which neither team scored and both teams scored in five of the innings. In the 18 innings played, there was only one 1-2-3 inning, the Chiefs fifth authored by Lexington starter Alsis Herrera.

In the first five innings, the teams combined scored 14 runs with Lexington holding a 9-5 lead. In the final four innings, the teams combined to score 17 runs, which included seven runs by the Chiefs in the sixth inning.

That is where we will start this part of the story. With the Blue Sox leading 9-5 and six outs away from victory, it seemed the Chiefs were down and almost out. Someone forget to tell them that as they put together a rally for the ages with eight straight batters reaching base after the frame started with a strikeout. Juan Portes drove in the first run with his fourth hit of the game. Mike Burgoyne had an RBI fielder’s choice and Mike Barbati followed with an RBI single that knotted the game at 9-9. With the bases loaded, a run scored when pitcher Mike DiCato was hit by a pitch. Three Blue Sox errors also contributed to the Chiefs rally, as all of them directly leading to runs.

The Sox kept battling and worked two walks off of Chiefs ace Freni, the last one to Graham that brought in Adie to cut the lead to 12-10.

The game went to the top of the seventh and Johnny Welch had a 2-2 count on him when the sprinklers came on halting the action and leading to the suspension of the game.

Now we move to late Sunday afternoon and play finally resumes. Only to see the Chiefs have to make another move. Witkowski worked a walk and two pitches later came home on Portes fifth hit of the night, a two-run home run to left that give the Chiefs a 14-10 lead.

Now Lexington appeared to be down and facing one of the best pitchers in the league had to score at least four runs to keep playing. An offense that had scored 192 runs in the regular season was up to the task. Feliciano began with a bunt single and went to third on Kevin Davis’ single to right. Adie followed with a single up the middle to score Feliciano and it was 14-11. A pair of ground outs to the Mike Barbati moved the runners up with the second one driving in Davis for a 14-12 score. On an 0-1 count Hart drove a Freni fastball to left that just cleared the leap of Chiefs left fielder Burgoyne for a 2-run home run that tied the score at 14-14.

The Chiefs loaded the bases in the eighth with one out, but could not capitalize. Witkowski was retired on a foul pop up to third baseman Curley and Portes was set down for the first time in the game on a come-backer to Blue Sox hurler Aidan Freeburg, the ninth pitcher of the game.

Freni struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, but did allow a two out single.

In the top of the ninth, the Chiefs retook the lead for the third time. Burgoyne began with a single to right, stole second base, and Barbati sacrificed him to third. He then scored on Serino’s single to center past a drawn-in infield to make it 15-14. Freeburg struck out the last two batters to give his teammates another shot at coming back.

Now back to the beginning of our story.

The Chiefs struck quickly scoring twice in the top of the first scoring on RBI singles by Welch and Portes. Lexington came right back with a lead-off home run by Adie, his second in as many nights and then a two-run double by Jeff Vigurs to take a 3-2 lead. After Mike Gedman’s RBI double in the top of the second tied the game at 3-3, the Sox responded with three more runs on two sacrifice flies and an RBI single by Curley. Portes drove in two more for the Chiefs with a double in the fourth and Lexington came back with another three spot in the fifth courtesy of Hart’s RBI single, a bases-loaded walk to Dorian Rojas, and an error.

This was the fifth straight finals meeting between these two teams and Lexington now hold a 3-2 lead in that run. The teams have won the last nine league championships.

While the 2015 Intercity League season has come to close and the lights are turned off for the final time the fans will have plenty to talk about over the offseason as they remember the great finish to the 2015 season.

For a complete box score and play-by-play please go to http://www.pointstreak.com/baseball/scoreboard.html?leagueid=789.