Andre Chiefs

By Bruce Tillman 

Malden, MA- The Lexington Blue Sox took Game Five of the Intercity League Championship Series, beating the Chiefs 7-2 at Maplewood Park on Sunday night. With the win, Lexington reclaims the ICL crown that the Chiefs took from them in five games last season.

The Chiefs and Blue Sox have now played 15 championship series games in the last three seasons with the Blue Sox holding a narrow 8-7 edge in the games played.

The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Dave Ahern hit a solo homer to left off Chiefs’ starter Mike DiCato.

Lexington added four more runs in the fourth against DiCato and reliever Tim Dunphy. Steve Gath walked, Ahern singled, Jeff Vigurs drew another walk. and Josh Klimkiewicz delivered Gath with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Dunphy replaced DiCato to face a couple of left-handers. Tom Haugh then lined a single to right scoring Ahern and Tom McKenna reached on an infield single scoring Vigurs to increase the lead to 4-0. Ross Curley’s double down the left field line scored Haugh to jump the margin to 5-0.

Klimkiewicz’s two run homer gave the Blue Sox a 7-0 lead in the fifth inning.  

The Chiefs scored a single run in the bottom of the fifth on singles from Nick Leva, Tony Serino and Tony Deshler, and a sacrifice fly from Juan Portes.

Nate Witkowski hit a solo home run to centerfield in the bottom of the sixth to account for the 7-2 final.

Drew Brzozowski went the distance to get the win while DiCato took the loss going 3.1 innings.

Both the Chiefs and Blue Sox each had seven hits in the game. The Blue Sox made the most of their opportunities while the Chiefs left six men on base.

The Chiefs conclude the season with the 2013 Intercity League’s regular season pennant and an overall final record of 29-9.

By Bruce Tillman 

Lexington, MA- They called on the ace to get them back home.

And for the umpteenth time in his long Intercity League career Jared Freni answered.

Working on three days rest, after winning the series opener on Monday night 4-2, Freni turned in probably his best, and certainly most gutsy effort of the season, in what has been a summer full of memorable performances by the right-hander.

In one of the quickest ICL championship games ever played, Freni hooked horns with former Boston College standout Hunter Gordon in the Chiefs “win or go home” Game Four of the annual late summer showcase.

The result was a seat squirming 1-0 win for the defending champions that sends the series back to Malden Catholic on Sunday night for a winner take all Game Five at 8:00 PM.

This was a text book pitching clinic by both Freni and Gordon, who allowed just five hits between them, in a game that took all of a one hour and fourteen minutes to complete. If not for former Brandeis star and Chiefs’ veteran Tony Deshler’s sixth inning RBI single, the two teams may be still playing on Saturday morning. The two pitchers were just that good.

Gordon dispatched the Chiefs in the top the first and Lexington mounted their best scoring chance in the bottom of the inning. After Ross Curley grounded to Juan Portes for the first out, former Chicago Cub farmhand and Bryant University catcher Jeff Vigurs drilled a 3-1 Freni fastball into the left-centerfield gap for a standup triple. With the Chiefs infield drawn in, Freni recorded a mega strikeout of Steve Gath and then got Game Three hero Dan Graham to bounce to Mike Barbati at second base.

That was it in the scoring opportunity department for the next four innings as the game moved along at an amazingly rapid pace.

Freni proceeded to retire seven Blue Sox in a row before hitting Gath with a 3-1 pitch with one out in the bottom of the fourth. He left Gath stranded when he struck out Graham and Dave Ahern in succession to end the inning.

Gordon was equally as good, facing the minimum 15 batters through the first five innings. The only baserunner the Chiefs had was a leadoff single by Tony Serino in the top of the fourth inning. Serino was promptly erased when Portes grounded into a 4-6-3 doubleplay.

Paul Yankopoulos got things going in the Chiefs’ game deciding sixth inning when he led off with a single to center. Barbati bunted his sacrifice attempt a bit too hard and Gordon pounced off the mound and gunned Yanakopoulos out at second. Gordon then retired Nick Leva on a fly ball before Serino reached on the only miscue of the game, when Gath kicked his grounder, putting runners at first and second with two outs. Deshler then came up huge when he drilled a 1-0 Gordon pitch to left for a single. Ahern put a charge on the ball and threw a strike to Vigurs at the plate with the ball beating the oncoming Barbati by a solid two steps. Vigurs applied the tag but in the slide/semi-collision, the ball somehow squirted loose. Barbati was called out, then safe, when the ball dropped between he and Vigurs. Lexington manager Rick DeAngelis protested the call feeling that Vigurs had held the ball long enough to have recorded the out. In the ensuing and animated discussion, the veteran skipper was ejected by home plate umpire Dan Henry. When order was restored, the Chiefs still had an opportunity to add to their 1-0 lead with Serino now standing at third and Deshler at first. Gordon stayed tough and kept it a one run game when he got Portes to line out to left to end the inning.

Freni protected the slim lead in the bottom of the sixth when he got Dan Capra on a dribbler in front of the plate with catcher Leva throwing him out, Curley to ground out to Barbati, and Vigurs to bounce to Peter Copa, unassisted at first.

Copa led off the Chiefs’ seventh with an infield single between third and short. Mike Andre then popped up his sacrifice bunt attempt for the first out before Gordon sent the game to the bottom of the seventh, getting Bentley’s Nate Witkowski to hit into a Joe Eramo to Gath to Tommy Haugh 4-6-3 doupleplay.

Yanakopoulos ran down Gath’s fly in right for the first out of the seventh. The Blue Sox then got the tying run on base when Freni walked Graham on a full count fastball. Ahern followed with a grounder to Barbati at second who flipped to Portes to force Graham but with no chance of turning a doubleplay. With the count 1-2 to Haugh, Ahern stole second and was representing the tying run. Barbati then came up with the defensive play of the game when he went far to his right to snag Haugh’s grounder and was able to throw him out at first by a step to end the game.

Freni won his third straight post-season decision to go along with a perfect 10-0 mark in the regular season. The former Malden Catholic and UMass-Amherst standout struck out ten and allowed just Vigurs’ first inning triple.

Gordon, who concluded his career at BC this past spring, gave up just four hits, struck out three, and allowed just the sixth inning unearned run. The former Swampscott, MA star did not walk a batter and threw just 83 pitches, 57 for strikes, in his seven innings of work.

More Championship is Coverage Soon !!!!!!

By Bruce Tillman 
Malden, MA- The Chiefs were one out away and then one strike away from taking the pivotal Game Three of the ICL’s Championship Series before the Lexington Blue Sox rallied for four runs on Dan Graham’s two out grand slam to win 5-2. With the seventh inning dramatics, the Blue Sox take a 2-1 lead in the best of five series. They can close out the Chiefs when the teams meet in Lexington on Friday at 8:00 PM.

Blue Sox ace Matt Karis and the Chiefs’ Matt DiCato engaged in an old fashioned pitcher’s duel until Lexington finally broke through for a run in the top of the fifth inning. Tommy Haugh led off with a single and was sacrificed to second on a bunt from Tom McKenna. DiCato struck out Ross Curley for the second out of the inning before Jeff Vigurs delivered Haugh with the first run of the night when he drilled a double to right-center.

The Chiefs came back to tie it up in the bottom of the fifth when Paul Yanakopoulos led off with a gap double to left-center and was sacrificed to third by Matt Boleski. Nick Leva then hit an RBI fielder’s choice grounder into the shortstop hole to Steve Gath. Gath threw Leva out at first as Yanakopuoulos read the play perfectly and slid across the plate with the tying run.

The Chiefs came up with a little two out magic in the bottom of the sixth to take a 2-1 lead. After Deshler and Portes both grounded out, Peter Copa laced a double to right-center and Rob Machado came on to run for him. Mike Andre then gave the Chiefs the lead when he doubled to left to easily score Machado. Chad Conner pinch ran for Andre as Nate Witkowski came to the plate. Witkowski hit a little chopper in front of the mound that Karis fielded and threw a bit high to first. Conner never stopped running but was gunned out on a close play at the plate, as Vigurs applied the tag to end the inning.

The seventh inning began harmlessly enough as Haugh flew out to Tony Deshler in left and DiCato struck out McKenna swinging. The trouble began when DiCato hit Curley with the first pitch of his at bat. Vigurs was next and he a high liner toward third baseman Witkowski. Witkowski leaped and got a glove on the ball preventing it from going into left field. With runners at first and second with two outs, DiCato went to a 2-2 count on Gath when a close pitch was called ball three. Gath drew a walk on the next pitch to load the bases for Graham. Graham swung and missed the first pitch before he sent the next DiCato offering over the right-center field fence for a grand slam to give the Blue Sox a 5-2 lead.

The Chiefs didn’t go quietly in the bottom of the seventh as they tried to make some two out noise of their own. Karis struck out Yanakopoulos to lead off the inning and then got Matt Boleski on a grounder to Gath at shortstop. In ironically similar fashion to the top of the seventh, Karis kept the Chiefs alive when he plunked Leva with an 0-2 pitch. Tony Serino then reached on an infield single and Deshler drilled a single to center to load the bases and bring the winning run to the plate in Juan Portes. Karis got Portes to hit a grounder to McKenna at second to end the game and send the Blue Sox home with the win.

Andre, (10-20, .500) in the playoffs, and Yankopoulos (6-17, .353), led the Chiefs at the plate with a double and single each. Serino, who is 7 for 19, and hitting at a postseason clip of .368, added three singles.

Karis picked up the win despite allowing ten hits. He struck out two, walked one, and hit a batter. DiCato surrendered eight hits, struck out five, walked two, and also hit a batter.

If they Chiefs win Game Four on Friday, the deciding Game Five will be played at Maplewood on Sunday night at 8:00 PM.

 Lexington, MA- Drew Brzozowski threw a complete game shutout, turning back scoring chances all night long, as the Blue Sox took Game Two of the Championship Series 4-0 in Lexington on Tuesday night.

With the win, the Blue Sox even up the series at a game apiece with Game Three scheduled for Thursday night at Maplewood Park at 8:00 PM.

Brzozowski allowed nine hits and three doubles but pitched his way out of each jam. The former Brandeis right-hander was aided by some dazzling Lexington defense to help the Chiefs strand eight men on base.

Tony Deshler got the first of the Chiefs hits with one out in the top of the first inning but he was erased when Juan Portes bounced into a 4-6-3 doubleplay.

Lexington took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Ross Curley set the tone when he fouled off five Tim Dunphy pitches before lining a single to right. Jeff Vigurs followed with an infield grounder that moved Curley to second. Steve Gath’s single to right scored Curley and Gath went to second when the ball scooted by Matt Boleski for an error. Dunphy got Dan Graham to ground out before Dave Ahern’s single to center scored Gath with the second run of the inning.

The Chiefs missed the first of their scoring opportunities in the top of the second inning. Mike Andre and Nate Witkowski both singled to center with one out. Paul Yanakopoulos was next and he hit an infield grounder that forced Witkowski at second and sent Andre to third. With runners on the corners, Brzozowski got Boleski to ground out to Curley at third base to end the inning.

Dunphy struck out Josh Klimkiewicz and Tommy McKenna, sandwiched around a Tom Haugh single, before getting Curley to ground out to end the Blue Sox second.

The Chiefs missed another scoring chance in the top of the third inning. Nick Leva led off with a sharp single to left. Brzozowski then struck out Tony Serino looking and got his former Brandeis teammate Deshler on an infield fly. Portes then drilled a single to left but the runners were left stranded when Peter Copa got caught looking at strike three.

Gath and Graham both singled with one away in the Lexington third before Ahern bounced into a doubleplay.

The Chiefs got another runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth on Witkowski’s two out double, but Boleski grounded out to Haugh at first to end the frame.

The Blue Sox went in order in the bottom of the fourth while the Chiefs left another runner in scoring position in the top of the fifth. After Leva grounded out and Serino popped up, Deshler lined a double to right-center. Curley then turned in the defensive gem of the night when he robbed Portes of extra bases when he leaped high to snag a liner that was headed for the leftfield corner.

The Blue Sox doubled their lead in the bottom of the fifth. McKenna beat out an infield chopper to first base, stole second, and went to third when Leva’s throw went into centerfield. Curley flew to right and Dunphy struck out Vigurs for the first two outs of the inning. Three straight singles by Gath, Graham and Ahern, then gave the Blue Sox some breathing room at 4-0.

Andre doubled and Witkowski singled with one out in the Chiefs’ sixth. Brzozowski thwarted yet another prospective scoring chance when he struck out Yanakopoulos and got Boleski to ground out.

Dunphy, kept the Sox off the board in the bottom of the sixth and Brzozowki got the Chiefs’ side in order in the seventh to seal the win.

Deshler and Andre had a double and single each and Witkowski had two singles for the Chiefs. Gath was three for three and Graham and Ahern each had two hits for Lexington.

Brzozowski struck out three and didn’t walk anyone. Dunphy allowed ten hits, two earned runs, and struck out a season high seven batters.

More Championship Series coverage coming soon.  

Malden, MA- The Chiefs took the opening game of the Intercity League’s Best of Five Championship Series with a 4-2 win over the Lexington Blue Sox at Maplewood Park on Monday night.

If you were caught in traffic or simply arrived a few minutes late to the yard, you probably missed all the scoring.

There was nothing new in the pitching department for the Chiefs. Jared Freni overcame a rocky second inning to toss five consecutive scoreless frames. The right-hander earned his twelfth straight decision of the year and his second straight in the postseason.

Freni started strong and struck out both Tommy Bourdon and Steve Gath to end the Blue Sox first inning.

The Chiefs touched up Blue Sox starter Borja Jones-Berasaluce for a first inning run to give their ace a 1-0 lead. Tony Serino drew a leadoff walk and the Chiefs played some immediate small ball when Tony Deshler sacrificed him to second. Juan Portes made that move pay a quick dividend when he doubled to deep center to score Serino. When the Blue Sox cut the throw back to the infield they caught Portes with a wide turn at second and veteran shortstop Steve Gath tagged him out for the second out. Peter Copa drew a walk but Mike Andre lined out to center to end the inning.

The Blue Sox came right back to take a 2-1 lead off Freni in the top of the second inning. Danny Graham drew a leadoff walk and Dave Ahern dropped a single to left. Lexington played a little small ball of their own when Josh Klimkiewicz moved both runners up with a sacrifice bunt. Tommy Haugh was next and he lined a single to left that scored Graham to tie the game at 1-1. With runners on the corners and one out, Northeastern catcher John Puttress pushed a suicide bunt towards Freni that easily scored Ahern putting the Sox up 2-1. Lexington left two runners on base when Tommy McKenna and Ross Curley both flew out to Deshler in leftfield.

Juan Portes drove in two of the Chiefs' four runs in Game One

The Chiefs scored the last three runs of the game in the bottom of the second inning. Nate Witkowski got things started with a line single to left. Jones-Berasaluce then struck out Paul Yanakopoulos and Mike Barbati, both looking, for the first two outs of the inning. Catcher Nick Leva then hit a ball deep into the shortstop hole. Gath went far to his right, came up with grounder, but threw low to first allowing Leva to reach and sending Witkowski to third. Serino followed and lined an opposite field single down the left field line to score Witkowski, tying the game at 2-2. Deshler then singled to right-center, scoring Leva, to put the Chiefs in front for good at 3-2. Portes (pictured left)  drove home the game’s final run when he lined a single to left scoring Serino to make it a 4-2 ballgame. Jones-Berasaluce got Copa to lineout to Gath to send the game to the third inning.

The Blue Sox got Graham to second base with two outs in the top of the third when he beat out a high chopper infield single and a wild pitch. Freni kept it 2-1 game when Ahern grounded out to Portes at shortstop with Copa making a run saving pickup of his low throw ending the inning.

Andre led off the Chiefs’ third with a line single to right but nothing came of it after Jones-Berasaluce got Witkowski, Yanakopoulos and Barbati on three consecutive infield grounders.

Freni got the Blue Sox side in order in the top of the fourth and Jones-Berasaluce did the same to the Chiefs in the bottom of the inning.

Lexington made their last run at Freni in the top of the fifth inning after two were out. Tommy Bourdon reached on an infield single to the right side and Gath drew a walk. Freni went full to Graham before striking him on a breaking ball to end the threat.

The Chiefs appeared ready to add to their lead in the bottom of the fifth when Portes was hit by a pitch and Copa singled. But Portes was picked off second when Andre missed a sacrifice bunt attempt. Andre ended up grounding out and Witkowski lined out to,left to end the inning.

Ahern and pinch-hitter Justin Wright both flew out to Yanakopoulos in right and Haugh bounced out to Barbati in Lexington’s uneventful sixth.

Jones-Berasaluce got Yanakopoulos, Barbati, and Leva to ground out in succession in the bottom of the sixth to send the game to the Lexington seventh with the Chiefs leading 4-2.

Freni came out strong and struck out pinch-hitter Jason Twomley and McKenna before getting Ross Curley on a comebacker to end the game.

Freni struck out eight and walked two batters in a 117 pitch complete game effort. Jones-Berasaluce, the righty from Guilford College in North Carolina, surrendered seven hits, struck out three, walked two, and hit a batter.

The Blue Sox and Chiefs will be right back at it on Tuesday night when they meet in Game Two of the series at Lexington High starting at 8:00 PM. B.T.