Andre Chiefs

Melrose, MA- Jared Freni won his fourth straight start of the year and the Chiefs used four fourth innings runs to turn back the Americans 4-1 at Morelli Field in Melrose on Thursday night.

For the first place Chiefs, it was their eighth win in eight tries and pushed their record to 8-0 on the season.

From the outset it was apparent that Freni didn’t have his best stuff on this night and the Americans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Dan Cacciola led off the inning with a broken bat single to short right and then stole second. Mac Singleton followed and singled to left to put runners on the corners with no outs. Freni got then got veeran Mike Addesa to hit into a tailor made 6-4-3 doubleplay with Cacciola coming across the plate on the play. Matt Brown followed with the first of his two singles in the game but Freni ended the inning by striking out Kyle Devin.

The Chiefs scored all of their runs off Melrose starter Gianni Esposito despite getting only one hit in the top of the 4th inning. Tony Serino drew a walk and stole second. After Esposito struck out Mike Burgoyne for the first out Billy Mottram tied the game at 1-1 with a single to right-center scoring scoring and moved to second on the throw home. Mike Gedman’s fielder’s choice was then thrown away, putting runners at first and third with one away. Peter Copa was next and he hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Mottram, giving the Chiefs the lead at 2-1. Mike Andre and Nate Witkowski both drew walks to load the bases. Danny DiMare came on to pinch run and both he and Gedman scored when shortstop Vinny Scifo kicked Mike Barbati’s grounder to bump the lead to 4-1. Brian Carney made a nice sliding grab of Nick Leva’s fly ball to right to save two more runs and end the inning.

Freni held the Americans scoreless over the final three frames to secure the win. The Chiefs’ right-hander allowed six hits, struck out 11, and walked a season high five batters.

Esposito (1-1) and reliever Mike Peters combined to hold the Chiefs to just four hits, two to second baseman Mike Barbati.

Monday’s rainout against the Watertown Reds was the third so far for the Chiefs this season. The season opening postponement against the Wakefield Merchants has been rescheduled for Monday, August 3rd at 8:15 PM…..The rainouts at Lexington on June 9, and Monday night’s against the Reds, have not as yet been rescheduled……The Chiefs are anticipating moving some of their home games from Maplewood Park to the adjacent and newly constructed, and soon to renamed, South Broadway Field. The new field has dimensions of 329’ to left and 315’ down the right-field line……Two Chiefs recorded their first ICL hits over the weekend. Former Bates College two-time all-NESCAC shortstop Ryan Sonberg from Windsor, CT and Medford, MA rookie Danny DiMare chalked up their first base knocks on Saturday against Arlington. Sonberg signed professionally with the Taos Blizzard of the Pecos League in 2013. DiMare, who played at Malden Catholic, attended Seminole State JC in Florida this past year and is expected to play for D-2 St. Leo’s in the fall……Jared Freni has quietly thrown a remarkable 53 consecutive shutout innings. The last run he gave up was in the third inning in a regular season game in Wakefield back on August 6, 2014…..Mike Gedman has been on an early season tear, hitting at a .476 pace over the first six games. He has gone 10-21 with 6 RBI’s over that time frame…….Mike DiCato won his 25th game in a Chiefs uniform in Sunday’s 9-2 in Arlington. His 25 wins puts him in seventh place on the Chiefs’ all-time list. He is third in appearances (78), and fifth all-time in both innings (348) and strikeouts (235)….Mike Andre continues to edge closer to the Chiefs’ top five in both career hits and RBI’s. The ten year veteran trails only Justin Crisafulli, Mike Langston, Mike Barnes, Dave Clivio and Warren Olson in hits with 285 and needs 19 more to move past Olson and into the Chiefs’ all-time top five. In the RBI department, he currently has 171 and needs just 21 more to surpass Steve Daley and Hank Landers to become a member of the prestigious all-time top five…..Freni now trails only ICL Hall of Famer Dave Marsters in career strikeouts with 613. He needs another 166 to pass Marsters (778) on the all-time list….Second year utility man Adam Lucey, besides bearing a striking resemblance to Brock Holt, who has assumed a similar role for the Boston Red Sox, has emerged as the Chiefs’ ultimate utility man. The speedy Fisher College and Malden High product is a valued member of the roster who can play any position and has been utilized in that manner so far this season....Former Lexington Blue Sox Chris Shaw was selected in the first round by the San Francisco Giants and was the 31st player selected overall in last weeks MLB Draft. Shaw, who played at Boston College, broke up Rob Machado's no-hit bid with with a pinch-hit opposite field two out seventh inning single in a 3-0 Chiefs' win on August 9, 2009........   (Bruce Tillman/stats from 400hitter.com)

Arlington, MA- Veteran Mike DiCato threw a five-hitter, and his teammates backed him with nine runs and ten hits, on the way to a 9-2 win at Summer Street Field on Sunday.

The Chiefs broke up a scoreless game and scored three times in the top of the third inning. Singles from Chad Conner, Tony Serino, and Mike Gedman, along with a sacrifice bunt from Mike Burgoyne and a run producing sac fly from Johnny Welch that scored Mike Barbati who reached on an error, accounted for the runs.

The Trojans cut the lead to 3-1 in the home half of the fourth on a Kyle Hood infield single and a Jake McGuiggan bomb double to left.

The Chiefs got that run right back in the top of the fourth to take a 4-1 lead. Peter Copa walked, went to second on a wild pitch, and Mike Andre moved him to third. After Nate Witkowski drew a walk, Barbati plated Copa with a sacrifice fly to center.

An Isaiah Berg two out solo homer to right cut the lead back to two runs again at 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

Five big runs put the game away for the Chiefs in the top of the fifth. RBI singles from Gedman, Andre, Barbati, and Serino, were the key hits.

After surrendering a one out double to Colin Reenstema in the bottom of the fifth, DiCato retired the last eight batters in a row to seal the win.

DiCato (1-0), threw 88 pitches, struck out four, and didn’t walk a batter. The complete game effort was his 25th career win in a Chiefs’ uniform.

The Chiefs host the Watertown Reds at Maplewood Park/Malden Catholic on Monday night. (andrechiefs.com/intercityleaguebaseball.com feed)

Lexington, MA- Jared Freni threw a two-hit shutout, and Ryan Sonberg and Mike Gedman had a two RBI single each, to give the Chiefs a 6-0 win over the Arlington Trojans on Saturday afternoon. The game was played as part of the Intercity League’s annual Jerie DeAngelis Memorial Day of Baseball.

The Chiefs gave Freni a 1-0 lead in the top of second inning. Mike Andre drew a four pitch walk. After Arlington starter Dan Kelly of Tufts University struck out Sonberg, Adam Lucey walked and rookie Danny DiMare followed and blooped his first career ICL hit into short left to load the bases. Kelly hit Nick Leva with the first pitch he threw him to force home Andre. Kelly escaped the jam without further scoring when he struck Tyler Brinkley looking and Mike Burgoyne swinging, ending the inning.

Freni would surrender the only hits he would allow in the bottom of the second and had to pitch himself out of a bases loaded situation. He struck out Marcus Way for the first out of the inning. Morgan Brown then singled sharply under the glove of Lucey at third and Seth Coiley followed with a line single to right. When first baseman Dan Bonito misplayed Rollins College's Ben Johnson’s grounder, the Trojans had the bases loaded with one out. Freni got out of the inning unscathed when he reached back and struck out both Reme Portes and Ryan Hood ending the Trojans only threat of the day.

The Chiefs upped the margin to 3-0 in the top of the third. Bonito walked, Gedman singled, and they moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. With the Trojans’ infield drawn in, Sonberg lofted a soft liner to right, just out of the reach of second baseman Kyle Hood, scoring both runners.

Freni got another run to work with in the top of the fourth. DiMare was hit by pitch, stole second, moved to third on Brinkley’s bunt, and scored when Burgoyne’s grounder to Brown at shortstop pulled Tom Russo off the bag at first on a close play.

Freni cruised through both the fourth and fifth innings. Gedman closed out the game’s scoring, lining a single to right-center, scoring Jim Cassidy who was hit with a pitch, and Burgoyne, who reached on a bad hop single.

With the win, Freni goes to 3-0 and the Chiefs move to 5-0 on the young season. The right-hander struck out eleven and walked two. He needed 94 pitches to complete the shutout.

The Chiefs and Trojans are right back at it at Arlington’s Summer Street Field on Sunday in a 5:00 PM start. (Bruce Tillman/Todd Bloniarz)

Malden, MA- Billy Mottram and Peter Copa hit third inning homers to lead the Chiefs to a 4-3 win over the Melrose Americans at Maplewood Park on Wednesday evening. With the win they extend their season opening winning streak to four games.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when Copa singled, went to second on a bad hop Vinny Scifo error off the bat of Mike Barbati, and scored on a Chad Conner RBI single to left.

The Americans tied things up at 1-1 in the top of the third. Chris Sharpe reached on a throwing error by shortstop Nate Witkowski. Starter Mitchell Clegg then struck out Brian Carney for the first out before the Americans executed a perfect hit and run with Anthony Licciardello lining a single to right with Sharpe running and ending up on third. Clegg ran the count to 3-0 on Scifo, before tweaking a muscle in his side that forced him to leave the game in what appeared to be a precautionary measure. Matt DiCato came on and threw ball four to Scifio to load the bases. 2014 Rookie of the Year Mac Singleton then delivered Sharpe with an RBI infield grounder to Mike Barbati at second. DiCato got out of the jam relatively cheap when he got Matt Brown to ground to Witkowski to end the inning.

The Chiefs responded via the long ball route to retake the lead in the bottom of the third off Melrose starter Dillon Corliss (Winterport, ME/Framingham State). Mottram gave his team a 2-1 lead when he hit his first homer of the year to left-center. Johnny Welch followed with a rocket double to left before Copa made it a 4-1 game with a long two run homer to straightaway left.

In the Americans' fourth, a walk to Harrison Smoske and a single from Sharpe into the shortstop hole, that Witkowski bobbled and was charged with an error that allowed Smoske to go to third, put runners on the corners with two out. Barbati turned in the defensive gem of the night when he nabbed Colby Maiola’s hard grounder that was headed for centerfield and threw him out by a step at first to end the threat.

The Americans chipped a run off the lead to make it 4-2 in the top of the fifth on a walk to Scifo, a single by Singleton, and a RBI double by veteran Mike Addesa.

Melrose closed the gap to 4-3 in the sixth when Carney drew a walk and scored on John Jennings pinch-hit double to right-center.

Smoske made a nice running catch of Mike Andre's gap shot to begin the bottom of the sixth, Corliss struck out Witkowski for the second out, and then retired Barbati on a comebacker, to keep it a 4-3 game heading for the seventh.

Southpaw Evan Walsh (Arlington, MA/Bentley) came out of the Chiefs’ bullpen and struck out the left-handed hitting Singleton for the first out of the seventh. Righty Mike DiCato replaced Walsh and got Brown on a grounder to Barbati before surrendering a two out bloop single to left by Addesa. DiCato ended the night, and picked up the save, when Smoske popped out to Barbati in short right.

Matt DiCato (2-0) picked up the win in relief of Clegg. Corliss (0-1), allowed seven hits and struck out three in his six innings of work. -Bruce Tillman