Andre Chiefs

Waltham, MA- Chiefs' outfielder Matt Bolseki had one of the more important at-bats of his career when he got married on Saturday night.

The nine year ICL veteran took the plunge and tied the knot with the lovely Sarah Anne Sergi of Waltham, MA at a ceremony held at Our Lady's Comforted of the Afflicted Church.

Many of Boleski's Chiefs' teammates were in attendance at the reception that followed at the prestigeous Stonehurst at the Robert Treat Paine Estate. 

The new Mr. and Mrs. Boleski will reside in Waltham, MA. 

(Text by Michelle Elliot. Photo Courtesy of Kathy Andre)

Lexington, MA- The Chiefs scored three times in the top of the first inning and then rode the pitching of Jared Freni to shutout the Blue Sox 3-0 on Wednesday night.

The game featured a fine pitching matchup between two of the Intercity League’s best pitchers, Freni and Blue Sox ace Matt Karis.

The Chiefs got all the runs they would need, and all the runs that were scored in the game, in their first at bat. Karis walked Tony Serino on four pitches to start the game. Paul Yanakopulos then dropped bunt with Karis’ throw pulling Tommy Haugh off the bag at first. Juan Portes flew out to center for the first out before Johnny Welch gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead when he singled up the middle, scoring Serino. Mike Gedman then lined a single to right to load the bases. Karis got Peter Copa to pop up for the second out before walking Mike Andre to force in Yanakopulos with the second run. Mike Barbati then hit a slow chopper toward shortstop Steve Gath that went for an infield single and a 3-0 Chiefs’ lead. Karis averted further damage when he struck out Mike Burgoyne with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Freni struck out Tommy Bourdon, got Jeff Vigurs on a grounder to Copa, and retired Gath on a comebacker in the Blue Sox first.

Serino drew Karis’ unusual fourth walk leading off the second, but Yanakopulos bunted too hard forcing Serino at second, Portes struck out swinging, and Welch popped up to end the inning.

Lexington mounted its biggest scoring threat in the home half of the second inning. After Freni struck out Dave Ahern looking, Dan Graham dropped a single into right-center and Ross Curley followed with a thick grass single between the mound and shortstop. Will Marcal then drove a long fly to straightaway center which Serino caught up with on the warning track for the second out, with Graham tagging and going to third on the play. The Blue Sox scoring chance went by the boards when Freni got Haugh to ground out to Portes.

In the Chiefs third, Karis got Gedman to flyout and then walked Peter Copa and Mike Andre in succession. Barbati then grounded out, forcing Andre at second, and sending Copa to third. With two strikes on Burgoyne and Barbati running, Karis picked off Barbati (Haugh to Gath) to end the inning.

Freni had his strongest inning in the bottom of the third when he struck out the side in order.

Karis walked Serino for the third consecutive time with one out in the fourth but then struck out Yanakopulos on a breaking ball and then got Portes to groundout.

Ahern doubled into the leftfield corner with one out in the Blue Sox fourth before Freni struck out Graham and Curley popped up to Welch ending the inning.

Welch reached on an infield error to start the Chiefs’ fifth before Gedman struck out for the first out. Copa then got Welch to second with an infield grounder. Lexington centerfielder Mike Hart turned in the defensive play of the night, when he made a diving catch of an Andre shot to deep right-center, keeping it a 3-0 game.

Freni got the Lexington side in order in the bottom of the fifth, including two strikeouts, and Karis set the Chiefs down 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth.

Hart drew a walk to start the Lexington sixth before Freni picked him off for the first out. He then got Jeff Vigurs to fly to Gedman in right and Gath to ground to Welch to end the inning.

Karis enjoyed his second 1-2-3 inning in row in the top of the seventh when Yanakopulos grounded out and Portes and Welch both struck out.

Freni walked Ahern to start the bottom of the seventh before he got Graham to ground into a 4-6-3 (Barbati to Portes to Copa) doubleplay. The final out of the game came when Curley grounded out to Portes at shortstop.

Freni raised his record to 6-2 with the win. He struck out eight and walked two and needed 106 pitches (67 for strikes) to complete the shutout.

Karis (2-1), did not allow a hit after the first inning and finished with a three-hitter as well. The big righty struck out six, but also walked six batters. He threw one more pitch than Freni (107) in the game.

After the Blue Sox travel to Woburn on Thursday to play the Tanners at Ferullo Field, the Chiefs and Blue Sox will meet in a rematch on Friday back in Lexington at 8:00 PM. -
Bruce Tillman for www.andrechiefs.com

Woburn, MA- Mitchell Clegg threw five innings of two-hit baseball, retiring the first nine batters he faced in a row, and the Chiefs got shutout innings from Matt DiCato (sixth) and Evan Walsh (seventh) when they knocked off the Mooney Dental Tanners 11-1 on Tuesday night at Ferullo Field.

The Chiefs banged out 16 hits led by Mike Barbati, who went a perfect 4 for 4, and Mike Andre and Mike Burgoyne, who had three hits each.

The Chiefs struck early, putting up a three-spot in the top off of the first inning against Woburn starter Pat Maher. Paul Yanakopoulos singled with one out and scored the game’s first run on Johnny Welch’s long RBI double to center. Mike Gedman was hit with a Maher pitch and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Mike Andre then singled to left, scoring Welch and Gedman, to give the Chiefs a 3-0 lead.

Clegg set the Tanners down in order, with a strikeout, in the bottom of the first and the Chiefs added a run to their lead in the top of the second. Burgoyne led things off with a double to left-center, stole third, and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.

Two outfield fly balls and a strikeout gave Clegg a rocking chair second inning and the Chiefs extended the margin to 6-0 in the top of the third. Barbati singled, Billy Mottram drew a walk, and Burgoyne singled, driving in Barbati with the fifth run. Tony Serino then singled, sending Mottram to third, and Yanakopoulos upped the score to 6-0 with a sacrifice fly to left.

Clegg had his strongest inning in the bottom of the third when he struck out the Woburn side in order.

The Chiefs made it a 7-0 game in the top of the fourth against reliever Chris McNall. Andre singled up the middle with two outs, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Barbati’s double to right-center.

The Tanners broke up Clegg’s streak when Corey O’Neil led off the Woburn fourth with an infield single. Bill Cuozzo then reached on a bad hop grounder and both runners moved up on a passed ball. Clegg struck out Chris Ruocco and Jake Cintollo followed with a single, scoring O’Neil, to make it 7-1. With runners at second and third, Clegg got the final two outs of the inning on groundouts to Welch at third.

The Chiefs’ lead went to 11-1 in the top of the fifth. Burgoyne led off with his third straight hit and Serino drew another walk. After Yanakopoulos popped up, Nate Witkowski drove Burgoyne home with an RBI single to left. Welch popped up for the second out before Gedman made it a 10-1 affair with a long double to right-center, scoring Serino and Witkowski. Andre followed with his third single of the game, with Gedman stopping at third, before Barbati completed his perfect night with a bloop single down the right-field line that plated Gedman. Both Mottram and Burgoyne lined out sharply to end the inning.

Clegg worked a scoreless top of the fifth and Mike Rodriguez came out of the Tanners’ pen to set the Chiefs down in order in the top of the sixth.

Matt DiCato worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth, including a strikeout.

Rodriguez gave up lead-off double to Witkowski in the top of the seventh before catching Welch looking at strike three, and then getting pinch-hitters Sam Wishnow and Ceciillio Guante to both ground out.

Evan Walsh got two outfield flies and a pop up to set the Woburn side down in the bottom of the seventh to end the game.

Clegg, now 2-0, struck out seven and walked one.

The Chiefs travel to Lexington High to meet the Blue Sox on Wednesday at 8:00 PM.
B.Tillman

Arlington, MA- Lefty Tim Dunphy chalked up his ICL best seventh win of the season when the Chiefs turned back the Arlington Trojans 5-1 at Summer Street Field on Friday night.

Dunphy once again was in control from start to finish, scattering eight hits, and getting stronger as the game went on.

The Chiefs, despite stranding a plethora of runners, eleven to be exact, hit the ball hard all evening long.

The Chiefs threatened but could not score in the top of the first inning. Tony Serino drew a walk from Arlington starter Matt Lounsbury and Juan Portes followed and grounded into a hard hit 6-4-3 double play. Johnny Welch and Mike Gedman then had consecutive singles before Peter Copa hit a seed liner right at shortstop Derek Pizarro to end the inning.

Dunphy set the Trojans down in the bottom of the first and the Chiefs took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Mike Andre led things off and drilled a two strike Lounsbury pitch off the base of the fence in right for a double. Paul Yanakopoulos followed with a single to center and Mike Barbati doubled to center, scoring both Andre and Yanakopoulos. After Mike Burgoyne popped up, the Chiefs threatened for more when Serino beat out an infield hit and Portes walked to load the bases. Lounsbury got the dangerous Welch to pop up to end the inning.

The Trojans came right back to make it a 2-1 game in the bottom of the second. Dan Csaplar singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Matt Cooney, and scored on a bomb double to straightaway center from Seth Coiley.

The Chiefs took a 3-1 lead in the top of the third. After Mike Gedman bounced out, Copa singled and moved to third on Andre’s line single down the rightfield line. Yanakopoulos then delivered Copa with a long double to left. Lounsbury kept it a 3-1 affair when he got Barbati to pop out and Burgoyne to groundout to end the inning.

It stayed 3-1 until the Chiefs gave Dunphy a little more breathing room in the top of the fifth inning. Gedman drew a walk and Copa reached on a throwing error to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Andre made it 4-1 when he hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Gedman. Barbati then drilled a single to right-center, scoring Copa, to make it a 5-1 game and close out the scoring for the night.

Dunphy shutdown the Trojans, with some bigtime help from Serino, who was outstanding in centerfield, over the final three innings, to give the Chiefs their 17th win of the season.

Dunphy, now 7-1, struck out three and didn’t walk a batter.

Chiefs Chatter…. A couple of milestones were reached on Friday. Mike Andre tied Steve Daley for sixth place on the Chiefs’ all-time hit list when he recorded his 273rd hit with his third inning single. Andre now trails only Chiefs’ legends Justin Crisafulli, Mike Langston, Mike Barnes, Dave Clivio and Warren Olson in that category. The veteran also needs only three more RBI’s to pass Clivio and move into sixth place all-time in that department…..In addition, Tim Dunphy tied Joey Santagate for fifth place on the career win list with 28. He now trails only Dave Marsters, Ari Koufos, Jon Drew and present staff mate Jared Freni…..Tony Serino was immense in center for the Chiefs. The UMass-Amherst/Malden Catholic product had six putouts, which included tracking down a Matt Cooney bomb with two runners on to end the Arlington sixth inning….The Chiefs are off until Monday night when they host the Wakefield Merchants at Maplewood at 8:00 PM…..On Tuesday, the Chiefs travel to Ferullo Field in Woburn to meet the Tanners….
--Bruce Tillman

Malden, MA- Mike DiCato threw four innings of shutout ball and his former UMass-Amherst teammate Mike Gedman had a grand slam and a double to lead the Chiefs to 10-0 victory over the Melrose Americans on Monday night at Maplewood.

With the win, the Chiefs clinched themselves a spot in the 2014 ICL postseason.

DiCato stranded Bobby Rosano, who had led off the game with a single, at third base in the top of the first courtesy of an outstanding inning ending play by Peter Copa.

The Chiefs put up a couple of quick runs against starter Chris Hayes (0-4) in their first at bat. Tony Serino drew a walk and scored on Billy Mottram’s opposite field triple to left. Juan Portes made it 2-0 when he brought Mottram home with a sacrifice fly to left.

Mac Singleton hit a ground rule double to left with one out in the Americans’ second. DiCato kept Melrose off the scoreboard when he struck out Gianni Esposito and Shawn Doyle in succession to end the inning.

Hayes blanked the Chiefs in the bottom of the second and DiCato did the same to the Americans in the top of the third.

The Chiefs sent 13 men to the plate and scored seven times to put the game away in the bottom of the third. Mike Burgoyne started things off by drawing a walk and Tony Serino followed by dropping a perfectly placed bunt single. Mottram then lofted a fly ball down the left field line that was misplayed, allowing Burgoyne to score and sending Serino to third. Portes then lined a single to left, scoring Mottram, to make it 4-0. Johnny Welch drew a walk to load the bases for Gedman. The lefty unloaded them and doubled the Chiefs’ lead to 8-0 when he drilled a grand slam to left-center. Mike Peters came on to relieve Hayes and got Peter Copa to fly out for the first out of the inning, Mike Andre then doubled to right, Paul Yanakopoulos singled to left-center, and Burgoyne was hit by a pitch, to load the bases again. Serino made it a 9-0 game with an RBI fielder’s choice that scored Andre. Mottram then reached base for the third consecutive time when he drew a walk before Peters got Portes to fly out to right to end the frame.

Nothing across for either club in the fourth and Matt DiCato came on to work a scoreless top half of the fifth, allowing a hit and striking out a batter.

The Chiefs scored their tenth run in the bottom of the inning on a Gedman double that was sandwiched around two infield errors.

Southpaw Evan Walsh (Arlington Catholic/Bentley) worked the final two innings for the Chiefs, allowing just one hit.

Chiefs Chatter…..The now 16-6 Chiefs clinched a playoff spot as well as another season with a winning record…..The win was the 24th of Mike DiCato's Chiefs’ career…..Rookie Tyler Brinkley made a couple of nice plays at second base in the top of the seventh…..The forecast for heavy thunderstorms never came to fruition and the game was played without any delay…..The Chiefs are off on Thursday and travel to Summer Street Field in Arlington to visit the Trojans on Friday at 7:00 PM….Lefty Tim Dunphy (6-1) is expected to get the starting nod…..
B.Tillman-intercityleaguebaseball.com