Medford, MA- The Chiefs made a significant and early upgrade to their 2010 pitching staff when they announced the addition of former Brandeis and Cassell Club star lefty Tim Dunphy. 

Dunphy was a mainstay in the rotation for the Cassell Club in 2006 and 2008. In 2007 he pitched professionally for the Namur Angels in Belguim. 

Dunphy was 7-1-1 overall for Cassell in 2006 throwing 65.2 innings while striking out 56. In 2007, the Cambridge, MA native went 7-7 in Europe posting an ERA of 1.68 striking out 109 batters in 118 innings. 

In 2008 Dunphy returned to the Intercity League and posted a 5-1-2 overall record for the Cassell Club which included a complete game shutout of the Chiefs on June 26. 

As a senior at Brandeis University in 2006, Dunphy went 10-3 for Judges capping an outstanding collegiate career.  

He was fifth in the ICL’s MVP award balloting and finished second behind Lexington’s Bill Cooke in the Outstanding Pitcher category when the Cassell Club won the ICL title in 2006.

Medford, MA-  The Lexington Dynasty continues.

The 1990's was the decade of the dominating Chiefs. The initial decade of the 2000's is firmly in the camp of the Lexington Blue Sox.

Rick DeAngelis' "Big Blue Army" made sure of that, when for the third consecutive summer and the sixth time in the last eight years, the ICL's championship series concluded with the Blue Sox once again being fitted for the crown.

The Chiefs playoff run ended late Sunday afternoon at Tufts University when the Sox shook off a 1-0 series defecit to take three straight games, the clincher being an 8-1 win.

The Blue Sox came to play early as they took a 1-0 lead off Chiefs starter and loser Ryan McNeill in the first inning. Red hot Peter Frates got things going when he led off and lined a single to right. McNeill uncorked a wild pitch and Frates took second. Things got worse for the Chiefs when Ross Curley dropped a bunt that McNeill threw late to first, putting runners on the corners with no outs. A Dan Graham fielders choice scored Frates with the first run. McNeill then hit Sean McElroy with a pitch and the Chiefs escaped the inning pretty cheaply when Steve Gath bounced into a 6-4-3 doubleplay.

Lexington's starter Drew Brzozowski set the Chiefs down in order in the bottom of the first inning. 

The Sox added an unearned run in the top of the second. Tom Haugh reached with one out when second baseman Mike Baillargeon bobbled his grounder. Jeff Nolet followed and delivered Haugh with a long gap shot double to make it 2-0.

Bailargeon opened the Chiefs second and reached second base when Anthony Santos misplayed his pop-up to short right field. Mike Andre stayed red hot and lined a single to right-center scoring Baillargeon to cut the lead to 2-1. The Chiefs looked to be in serious business when Dario Pizzano driilled Brzozowski's next picth into the left-center field gap for a double that sent Andre to third. The Chiefs could not put the tying accross as Andre was thrown out at the plate on Bob McCarthy's grounder and Brzozowski struck out Hal Landers to end the threat.

Nothing doing for either club in the third and the Sox made a big push toward the championship when they came up with four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 6-1 lead. Haugh walked and consecutive doubles from Nolet and Santos moved the margin to 4-1. After Frates grounded out to Brian Macrina at first, Curley delivered a fielder's choice RBI when he grounded to Baillargeon at second and Santos beat his throw home to make it 5-1. Chris Foundas came on in relief of McNeill and he hit Graham with a pitch. It went to 6-1 when the Chiefs could not convert on a McElroy potential double play ball.

Brzozowski set the Chiefs down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fourth. The Sox put it out of reach when they picked up a couple more runs off Foundas in the top of the fifth on a walk to Nolet, singles from Frates and McElroy sandwiched around a Graham double down the right field line.

A Macrina two out single was all the Chiefs could come up with in the bottom of the fifth and left-hander Connor Bishop came on to get the Sox side in order in the top of the sixth. 

Brzozowski worked another three up, three down inning in the Chiefs sixth.

Bishop, by a wide margin the Chiefs most effective pitcher of the day, retired the Blue Sox side in order again in the top of the seventh.

Mike Barbati, who had a pinch hit single on Friday, batted for Justin Crisafulli and Brzozowski got the first out of the seventh when he caught him looking. Pizzano then flied to McEvoy in left for the second out. McCarthy briefly put the Sox celebration on hold when he singled to left but the Sox put away another championship when pinch-hitter Matt Boleski flew to Graham in right to end the game.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES NOTES-COMING SOON

Medford, MA- The Lexington Blue Sox took a 2-1 series lead with a 4-2 win over the Chiefs at steamy Tufts University on Saturday afternoon. 

The Best of Five series continues on Sunday at Tufts when Game Four will be played at 1:30 PM. If the Chiefs force a Game Five, it will be played in Lexington on Monday night. 

The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning against Blue Sox starter Matt Karis. Mike Andre drove home Jeff Bercume, who had reached on fielder’s choice, with a RBI single. 

The Blue Sox answered and took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second inning when Chiefs starter Dylan Ellis surrendered four singles to Matt McEvoy, Tom Haugh, Anthony Santos and Peter Frates.  

The Sox lead went to 4-1 in the fourth inning when Haugh walked, Poling reached on an infield single and Ellis threw Santos’ sacrifice bunt attempt into right field allowing Haugh to score. Santos came around to score on a fielder’s choice. 

The Chiefs closed the gap to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth and threatened for mush more. Macrina drew a walk and Bercume reached on a two base error putting runners on second and third with nobody out. Mike Baillargeon then grounded to Steve Gath at shortstop who caught Bercume trying to go to third as Macrina scored on the play. Andre followed with a line single to right, his second of the game, sending Baillargeon to second. Justin Crisafulli then hit a screaming liner that was bound for the left field corner. Sox third baseman Ross Curley came up with the play of the game when he leaped to make an outstanding grab and recovered in time to double Baillargeon off second to end the inning. 

Matt O’Brien worked a scoreless sixth for the Blue Sox and Jesse Santos picked up the save in the seventh. 

Ellis went the distance for the Chiefs allowing three earned runs and eight hits while striking out five. Karis picked up the win giving up two runs on six hits and striking out three in his five innings of work.  

The Blue Sox will send Drew Brozowski to the mound in Sunday’s Game Four while the Chiefs are expected to counter with Ryan McNeill.

By Bruce Hack
Intercity Baseball League Media Relations Director

Lexington, MA – Lexington came out swinging and tied the finals at 1-1 with a 5-2 win over the Chiefs at Lexington High School Friday night. The teams move to Medford for Saturday and Sunday. Both games are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. starts at Tufts University’s Huskins Field.

The Blue Sox set the tone early as Pete Frates led off with a double in the first. Ross Curley sacrificed him to third and a walk to Dan Graham put runners on the corners. Sean McElroy bounced a single through the left side and it was 1-0 Sox four batters into the game. Steve Gath singled to center to score Graham and the Sox were up 2-0.

In game two it was Lexington’s pitching and defense that made the plays and made big ones when they were needed. The Chiefs had runners at first and second on back-to-back singles by Mike Andre and Justin Crisafulli, with one out in the second. Dario Pizzano lofted a fly ball down the left field line. Sox left fielder Matt McEvoy made a sliding catch on the line and then popped up and fired a throw to second baseman Anthony Santos, who made like a first baseman and stretched out to make the catch and double up Andre.

In the fourth Andre loaded the bases on a single by Jeff Bercume and two hit batters, Mike Baillargeon and Crisafulli with one out. Pizzano this time hit a ground ball to third which Curley fielded, stepped on the bag and fired across the diamond to nail Pizzano at first for the inning-ending double play.

Steve Bodnar was the beneficiary of the outstanding defense as he won his second game of the postseason. In a complete game effort, he scattered six hits, gave up two unearned runs, walked one and struck out five. His five K’s came at crucial times as he struck out Mike Andre in the fourth with two on and no outs and then struck out Baillargeon with two on and no outs in the sixth.

It was the four and five hitters, McElroy and Gath, that came through again for the Blue Sox in the fifth. Frates beat out a leadoff bunt for a single and Curley then beat out a bunt for a base hit and the Sox had runners at first and second with no outs. Frates moved to third on Graham’s fly ball to left to put runners at the corners. With Curly going, McElroy grounded out to short with Frates scoring the third run. Curley then scored on Gath’s second single to center and it was 4-0 Lexington.

The Sox final run came in the sixth inning when Santos doubled to right with two outs. He scored on Frates single to left giving Lexington a 5-0 lead.

The Chiefs finally got on the board in the seventh when it took advantage of a Lexington error.
Bodnar retired the first two batters and then Mike Barbati got a pinch-hit single through the right side. Brendan Pyburn reached when Santos dropped his fly ball in shallow right and Barbati moved to third. Both runners came home on Brian Macrina’s double to left center. Bodnar got the final out a soft line drive to Santos.

Dan Lozeau, who was 0-1 against Lexington in the regular season, fared a little better tonight. pitching six innings, giving up nine hits, five runs, walking three and striking out two.

From the stat sheet – Pete Frates continues his hot streak in the postseason for Lexington. He is now hitting .563 with seven runs scored, three RBI and three doubles and a home run...... Jeff Bercume is hitting .500 for the Chiefs with four runs and three RBI. He also has two doubles, a triple and a home run. ......Mike Andre is hitting .364 and leads all players in the postseason with two home runs and seven RBI..........Steve Bodnar went 2-0 with 0.50 ERA in 14 innings with 14 K’s in two playoff starts. .......Dan Lozeau is now 2-1 in three games and has pitched 11 innings in the postseason.

Lexington, MA- Mike DiCato tossed a six-hit shutout to lead the Chiefs past the Lexington Blue Sox 6-0 in Game One of Intercity League’s best of five Championship Series on Thursday night in Lexington. For the Chiefs it was their fourth consecutive playoff win, having taken three straight from the Testa Corp. Bombers after dropping the first game of that semi-final series. 

Blue Sox starter Tim Bryant set the Chiefs down in order in the top of the first inning when he struck out Brendan Pyburn, got Brian Macrina on a groundout and Jeff Bercume on an outfield fly. DiCato surrendered a leadoff single to Pete Frates to open the home half of the first but he was quickly erased when Ross Curley bounced into a 6-4-3 doubleplay. 

Mike Andre got things started for the Chiefs when he singled down the right field line with one out in the second. Justin Crisafulli then singled to left and rookie Dario Pizzano laced a double into the left-centerfield gap that scored Andre to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Bryant stranded Crisafulli and Pizzano when he got both Bob McCarthy and Hal Landers to both flyout. 

The Blue Sox had their biggest scoring threat in the bottom of the second inning. Matt McEvoy led off with a single and DiCato got the first out when Steve Gath popped to Baillargeon. Sean McElroy then singled to right and went to second on the throw attempting to get McEvoy going to third. Tom Haugh then bounced back to DiCato for the second out of the inning with runners forced to hold. Eric Poling was then hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. DiCato kept the Chiefs in the lead when he struck out Anthony Santos to end the inning. 

The Chiefs lead went to 4-0 in the top of the third inning. It started quietly enough when Pyburn grounded to Haugh at first base for the first out. Macrina then hit a sinking soft liner to Gath at short who could not come up with the ball, which was scored an error. Bercume then picked up some chalk when he drilled a double just inside the first base bag that sent Macrina to third. Baillargeon then came up big when he delivered a two RBI single to center giving the Chiefs a 3-0 lead and took second on the throw to the plate. Bryant got Andre to fly out to Frates in center for the second out of the inning before Criasfulli plated Baillargeon with a RBI single to left and 4-0 lead. 

Lexington got two more aboard (Graham single, McEvoy HBP) after two were out in the bottom of the third but DiCato ended another Sox threat with an inning ending strikeout, getting Gath swinging, to send the game to the fourth inning. 

Bryant had his strongest inning in the fourth, aided by his defense. McCarthy led off and hit a hard grounder over the third base bag but was gunned down by McEvoy trying to stretch it to a double. Bryant responed and got Landers on a pop-up and Pyburn on a grounder to end inning. 

DiCato remained tough and set the Blue Sox down in order in the bottom of the fourth including strikeouts of Haugh and Poling. 

The Chiefs increased their lead to 6-0 in the top of the fifth. Bercume dropped a perfect bunt single. Bryant got Baillargeon to line to right for the first out. With Andre at the plate, Bercume stole second and the former Merrimack captains gave the Chiefs a five run lead when Andre lined a single to left that scored Bercume. Crisafulli followed with his third straight hit, a double down the left field line that sent Andre to third. Pizzano then picked up his second hit and RBI of the night when he greeted reliever Sam Steed with another single that scored Andre with the sixth Chiefs run. 

DiCato gave up a one out single to Frates in the bottom of the fifth before Curley grounded into another 6-4-3 doubleplay. 

Landers opened the Chiefs sixth with an infield single between third and short and Pyburn promptly sacrificed him to second. Steed kept it a 6-0 lead when he got Macrina on a groundout and Bercume swinging ending the inning. 

DiCato followed two groundouts to Baillargeon by striking out Gath to end the sixth. It was the fourth straight inning that DiCato ended with a strikeout. 

Baillargeon tripled to center open the Chiefs seventh but Steed left him there when he struck out Andre and Crisafulli and got Pizzano on a grounder to Curley at third. 

McElroy led off the Sox seventh with a single to right and he was forced at second when Haugh grounded to Baillargeon. Pinch hitter Jeff Nolet then grounded out to Andre at third for the second out and DiCato ended things when he got Santos on fly to Landers in right to end the game. 

DiCato struck out five and did not issue a walk as he recorded the first playoff win of his ICL career. 

Game Two is scheduled for Lexington High School on Friday at 8:00 PM.  

East Boston & Lexington, MA- It wasn’t the longest game ever played but it sure seemed that way. A little under twenty-four hours after it began, spanning two cities and surviving a curfew and a late venue change, the Chiefs and Bombers finally decided Game Four of their best of five semi-final series on Wednesday. For the Chiefs it was well worth the wait as they came out on top 7-6 in ten innings.

With the win, the Chiefs wrapped up the semi-final series three games to one and earned themselves a ticket to the ICL’s Championship Series against the Lexington Blue Sox. 

Mike Andre carried the Chiefs offense driving in four of the Chiefs seven runs, crushing a three run homer, his second of the series, in the first inning, accounted for the tying run on a double play ball in the seventh (no rbi) and putting the Chiefs ahead 6-5 with a RBI single with two outs in the ninth. 

Ryan McNeill started for the Chiefs and worked into sixth, leaving in favor of Dan Lozeau. Lozeau, surrendered the lead in the inning as the Bombers went ahead 5-4, but only briefly as the Chiefs evened things up in the seventh. 

Andre gave the Chiefs the lead again in the top of the ninth and it appeared that it was going to stay that way until Josh Klimkiewicz delivered a long two out RBI single in the bottom of the inning, scoring Jay Defilippo who had drawn a walk, putting things even at 6-6 just before the curfew at East Boston Stadium brought the proceedings to a halt. 

Rookie Hal Landers collected the eventual game winner in the top of the tenth, when the game resumed in Lexington, driving home fellow rookie Dario Pizzano who had doubled and was sacrificed to third by Bob McCarthy. 

Dylan Ellis came on for the Chiefs in the bottom of the tenth inning to earn the save for Lozeau who picked up his second win of the series. Colin Quirk took the loss for the Bombers in relief of Mike Hashem who went the first seven innings.   

By Bruce Tillman
Medford, MA- Centerfielder Jeff Bercume (4-4) was a one man offensive show and the Chiefs got an outstanding two-hit pitching effort from rookie Rob Machado and veteran Danny Lozeau as they nipped the Testa Corp. Bombers 2-1 in eight innings on Monday evening at Tufts University. With the win, the Chiefs take a 2-1 lead in the best of five semi-final series. 

The Bombers got their only run of the night in the top of the first inning. Machado issued a two out walk to Josh Klimkiewicz. Clean-up man Nick Martinho followed and gave the Bombers a quick 1-0 lead when he blasted a long double to the right-centerfield gap scoring Klimkiewicz.  

Bombers starter Anthony Del Prete kept the Chiefs off the scoreboard until they tied the game up in the bottom of the third. Brendan Pyburn led off and drilled a double to the wall in right-center. Brian Macrina then grounded out to shortstop Joe Papa with Pyburn taking third. Bercume brought Pyburn home with the tying run, delivering a single just inside the first base bag. Bercume stole second but Del Prete kept it a 1-1 game when he struck out Mike Baillargeon and got Mike Andre on an infield grounder. 

Machado worked a 1-2-3 fourth and Del Prete, the ICL’s all-star starting pitcher the past two seasons, yielded only a leadoff single to Justin Crisafulli in the bottom of the inning. 

Machado issued a two out walk to Jay DeFillipo in the fifth before getting Vin Eruzione on a fly ball to end the inning.  

After Pyburn and Macrina both grounded out to start the home half of the fifth inning, Bercume drilled a two out triple to right-center. Del Prete got tough once again and caught Baillargeon looking to keep the game tied at 1-1. 

In the top of the sixth, Machado struck out Klimkiewicz swinging (his only K of the night) and then issued a four pitch walk to Martinho. The Chiefs defense came up big once again as Machado got Stan DeMartinis to bounce into a 4-6-3 (Baillargeon to Pyburn to Macrina) doubleplay. 

Del Prete, who pitched professionally for three seasons in Evansville, Indiana, had a rocking chair sixth inning, retiring Andre on fly to left, Crisafulli on a fly to right and Dario Pizzano on hard grounder back to him. 

The Bombers threatened to take the lead without the benefit of a hit in the top of the seventh as Machado began to show some fatigue in the 85 degree heat. Mike Adessa flew to Pizzano in left for the first out and Steve Wadsworth drew a five pitch walk. Papa was next up and he and hit a chopper to Baillargeon’s left. The second baseman’s only play was to first base, throwing Papa out as Wadsworth moved into scoring position. Machado then walked his second batter of the inning (Steve Buitkus) and sixth of the night. With Machado’s pitch count at 96, Chiefs manager Chuck Andre opted to go to the bullpen and summoned Lozeau. Lozeau went up in the count 1-2 to DeFillipo before hitting him with a breaking ball that loaded the bases. Eruzione followed and hit a one-hopper to Andre at third who gloved the ball and stepped on third to end the threat. 

Del Prete was still dealing in the bottom of the seventh. He got catcher Bob McCarthy to fly to right for the first out. Hal Landers followed and bounced a single up the middle representing the winning run. Pyburn then hit a screaming liner Eruzione at second who fired to Klimkiewicz at first to double up Landers sending the game into extra innings. 

Things looked a bit ominous when Lozeau issued the Chiefs seventh walk of the night to Klimkiewicz leading off the Bombers eighth. But the former twenty game winner at Bryant University, let Klimkiewicz get no further as he settled down to retire Martinho on a pop up, DeMartinis swinging on strikes and Adessa on fly out to Bercume. 

Del Prete got Macrina to ground out to Adessa at third for the first out of the Chiefs eighth setting the stage for Bercume’s heroics. The speedy centerfielder beat out an infield roller to second base for his fourth consecutive hit of the night. With Baillargeon at the plate, Bercume took off for second and Wadsworth’s throw sailed into centerfield allowing him to get back to his feet and race to third. Del Prete’s 1-2 pitch to Baillargeon skipped away from Wadsworth just far enough to allow Bercume to slide across the plate with the winning run as the Chiefs dugout emptied to mob him. 

Machado surrendered just two hits in his 6.2 innings of work and Lozeau picked up the first playoff win of his career.

Del Prete, scattered eight hits, struck out four and did not walk a batter. 

Chiefs Chatter….Ryan McNeill will take the mound for the Chiefs against the Bombers Mike Hashem when the teams hook up in Game Four of the series on Tuesday night at East Boston Stadium at 8:00 PM…..The Chiefs were forced to go without Peter Copa who suffered a hamstring pull on Sunday….The Game Three win was the Chiefs first extra inning playoff win since 2002 when they beat the Wakefield Merchants 1-0 in nine innings at Tufts behind Paul Koslowski….Machado threw a one-hitter against Lexington in his last regular season start and combined with Monday's outing he has now allowed just three hits in his last 13.2 innings...   

By Bruce Tillman
East Boston, MA- Dylan Ellis’ gutsy complete game pitching performance sent the Chiefs home from East Boston Stadium with an “edge of your seat” 4-3 playoff win on Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Chiefs evened their best of five semi-final series with the Testa Corp. Bombers at one game each. 

The Chiefs threatened right away, putting two men in scoring position in the top of the first inning. Bombers starter Eddie Donovan struck out Brendan Pyburn looking leading off the inning. Mike Baillargeon then tripled into the right center-field gap. Jeff Bercume drew a walk and promptly stole second. Peter Copa was next and he hit a one hopper right at Bombers third baseman Mike Adessa, who looked the runners back and threw him out at first. Donovan, who had a 0.84 ERA in seven appearances for Trinity this spring, escaped the inning when he got Mike Andre to ground out to second baseman Vin Eruzione. 

Ellis got the first two outs in the bottom of the first inning before former Harvard star Josh Klimkiewicz unloaded a bomb triple to center. Ellis matched Donovan’s escape and got Nick Martinho to ground to Baillargeon to keep the game scoreless. 

Donovan hit Justin Crisafulli with a breaking ball leading off the top of the second. The Chiefs could not capitalize as Macrina lined out, catcher Bob McCarthy grounded out and Hal Landers flew out to right. 

Ellis struck out ICL veteran Stan DeMartinis for the first out of the Bombers second before Adessa singled to center. Ellis sent the game into the third inning at 0-0 when he retired Steve Wadsworth on a grounder to Pyburn at shortstop and Joe Papa on a chopper to Baillargeon at second. 

The Chiefs broke the scoring ice in the top of the third inning. Donovan retried Pyburn on a grounder to Eruzione to start the frame. Bailargeon then reached on an infield single to third base. Adessa made a nice play to get to the ball, but threw wide of first for an error allowing Baillargeon to scamper to second. Bercume followed and delivered a laser shot home run to left-center, scoring Baillargeon ahead of him and giving the Chiefs a 2-0 lead. Papa then bobbled Copa’s grounder long enough to allow him to reach first on an error. Copa stole second and Donovan got the second out when Andre lined to center. Macrina came up big when he delivered Copa with a RBI single to left jumping the lead to 3-0. Donovan got McCarthy to pop up to end the inning. 

The Bombers came right back to pick up a run in the bottom of the third. Steve Buitkus lead off with a solid single to right. Jay DeFilippo followed with another single to left. Ellis then got Eruzione to bounce to Copa going to his right and he fired a strike to Pyburn forcing DeFilippo at second base. Klimkiewicz cut the lead to 3-1 when he singled down the left line scoring Buitkus. The Chiefs defense came up big when they turned a 4-6-3 doubleplay off the bat of Martinho to keep it a two run game. 

Donovan and Ellis both worked 1-2 -3 innings in the fourth. 

The Chiefs picked up what proved to be the eventual game winner in the top of the fifth but missed a chance to open up some room when they left the bases loaded. After Bercume grounded out, Copa unloaded on a blast to deep left. As he was rounding first, Copa came up lame with a hamstring pull but managed to get to second before going down in obvious pain. Dario Pizzano came on to run for Copa and Andre beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners with one away. Crisafulli then was hit by a Donovan pitch for the third consecutive time to load the bases. Donovan got the huge second out when he struck out Macrina swinging. McCarthy then came through when he lofted a single to right scoring Pizzano that ran the margin to 4-1. Landers then grounded sharply to second ending the inning. 

Ellis got stronger in the bottom of the fifth, again retiring the side in order, including a strikeout of Buitkus.  

The Chiefs appeared poised to open up the game once again in the top sixth but Donovan pitched himself out of another big time jam. After Pyburn flew out, Baillargeon walked and went to third on a Bercume single to right-center. Pizzano, hitting in Copa’s spot, drew a walk to load the bases. Donovan kept the Bombers in the game when he struck out Andre and Crisafulli both swinging. 

The Bombers built on Donovan’s escape job and threatened to take the lead after two were out in the sixth. Things started well for Ellis when he got the first two batters, Eruzione on a foul-out and Klimkiewicz on a pop-up. Martinho then gave the Bombers immediate life when he hammered a long solo home run to right-center that drew them closer at 4-2. They weren’t nearly finished as DeMartinis worked a walk and went to third when Adessa drilled a rocket single to center. Chiefs’ fans surely began feasting on the fingernails when Wadsworth followed with double to right-center scoring DeMartinis, sending Adessa to third, and putting the potential winning run in scoring position. Ellis got tough once again as he struck out Papa looking as the Chiefs headed to the seventh still holding the one run lead. 

The Chiefs wasted a leadoff single by Macrina in the top of the seventh as Donovan got McCarthy on a pop-up, Landers on a fly to left and Pyburn on a fly to right. 

Ellis kept the dramatics to a minimum in the bottom of the seventh when he retired Buitkis on a fly to Bercume, DeFilippo on a grounder to Baillargeon and finished strongly when he struck out Eruzione to end the game. 

Ellis allowed eight hits and struck out six. Donovan gave up nine hits and K’d five. 

Game Three will be played at Tufts University on Monday at 5:20 PM. 

**Bruce Tillman’s Chiefs Chatter & Game Notes are Coming Soon** 

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 

East Boston, MA- For the better part of this summer, Chiefs right-hander Chris Foundas has been searching for the form that made him the unanimous selection as the Intercity League all-star closer in 2008.

On Thursday night he found it.

His 2.2 innings of no-hit, six strikeout work, allowed the Chiefs to stage a sixth inning rally and come out of East Boston Stadium with a hard earned 3-3 tie, picking up a big point in the ICL standings.

Foundas was overpowering, entering the game in relief of starter Ryan McNeill with two men on base and one out in the bottom of the fifth and Chiefs already trailing 3-1.

The game featured a scoreless pitcher’s duel between McNeill and Testa Corp. Bombers ace Anthony Del Prete for 3 ½ innings before hosts broke through with a run in the bottom of the fourth.

Nick Martinho started things when he beat out an infield single between first and the mound. With Martinho running on a 3-2 pitch, Steve Wadsworth singled into the shortstop hole. Kevin O’Leary then singled to left to load the bases with nobody out. With the Chiefs infield at double play depth, Joe Papa hit an infield grounder that scored Martinho with the game’s first run as O’Leary was forced at second for the first out. McNeill struck out Paul Bonfiglio for the second out of the inning before walking Steve Buitkus to re-load the bases. He got out of the inning when Jay DeFillippo lined to Brian Macrina in left.

The Chiefs scratched out a run in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 1-1. Justin Crisafulli broke up Del Prete’s no-hit bid when he singled up the middle with one out. J.P. Pollard’s infield grounder forced Crisafulli at second for out number two. Hal Landers followed with a perfect bunt single moving Pollard to second. The Chiefs inserted Dario Pizzano as a pinch runner for Pollard and he scored when Brendan Pyburn drilled a RBI single to right. Del Prete got Bob McCarthy to ground out to shortstop to end the inning and keep it a 1-1 game.

The Bombers took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the inning. Vin Eruzione got things going with a single to center. Josh Klimkiewicz then lined shraply to Jeff Bercume in centerfield for the first out. Martinho then roped a triple into the right-center gap scoring Eruzione to give the Bombers the lead at 2-1. When Wadsworth singled to left scoring Martinho, the Bombers went up 3-1 and were threatening for more. Foundas was summoned from the bullpen and got O’Leary to line to center and then struck out Papa swinging to end the inning and keep the Chiefs in range.

Del Prete got Bercume swinging to start the Chiefs sixth. The Chiefs then caught a break when Papa made a nice play to get to a Peter Copa grounder but threw wide of first allowing him to reach on the throwing error. Macrina followed with a single to right putting runners at first and second with one out. Mike Andre then delivered a clutch RBI single to right scoring Copa that cut the lead to 3-2. Crisafulli was hit by a Del Prete pitch and Pizzano hit a RBI fielder’s choice forcing Crisafulli at second and allowing Macrina to score the tying run. With the go-ahead run at third base, Del Prete got tough and struck out Landers to end the inning.

Foundas set the Bombers down in the bottom of the sixth (including two strikeouts) and Del Prete got the Chiefs 1-2-3 (strikeout of Pyburn, McCarthy & Bercume grounders) in the top of the seventh.

Foundas struck out the heart of the Bombers order (Klimkiewicz, Martinho & Wadsworth) in order in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the tie for the Chiefs.

Chiefs Chatter…With the tie, Chiefs go to 14-10-3 (31 points) and assured themselves of another winning season, their 44^th in 46 years….Mike DiCato (5-2) is the expected starter when the Chiefs host the Lexington Blue Sox at Playstead Park on Friday at 6:00 PM. The Chiefs will use Playstead as their home venue on Friday as Tufts University is playing host to a Top-96 showcase…The Chiefs were to play the Blue Sox again on Saturday but that game has been switched to Sunday at 12:45 PM at Tufts University. The Chiefs will then travel to meet the Americans at Playstead on Sunday at 4:00 PM as part of a two site doubleheader. The Americans will have their traveling shoes on as well, as following the Chiefs game, they head to Ferullo Field in Woburn to meet the Tanners at 8:00 PM in what is shaping up as the final regular season game of the ICL season….The best of three first round of the playoffs is scheduled to begin on Tuesday with Seed 3 hosting Seed 6 and Seed 4 hosting Seed 5….The best of semi-finals are slated to start on Friday, August 14….

Medford, MA- The Andre Chiefs at Medford Americans game scheduled for tonight in Medford has been postponed.

A severe downpour hit Playstead Park in West Medford shortly before 4:00 PM this afternoon leaving the field unplayable.

"It is the worst flooding that I have seen in quite awhile", said Americans Manager Kevin Burgoyne, who was at the field and watched as the infield and baselines became flooded.

The game will be made up at Playstead on Sunday afternoon at 4:00 PM.

Medford, MA- Forget the dead ball era! Welcome to Huskins Field where pitchers frolic and hitters frown. 

ICL observers are starting to ask the question, “why can’t anyone hit or score runs at Huskins Field”, home of the Chiefs. 

Prevailing summer wind always seeming to blow in?  Quality pitching? Wood bats? Humungous dimensions? 354’ down the left field line? 379’ plus in the gaps? 410’ to center? Poor hitting? A thick carpet like lush infield? Great defense? Lots of room in foul ground? Take your pick. 

There is no doubt that the perfectly manicured field on the campus of Tufts University in Medford is one of the finest natural grass surfaces in New England. It has just become a place where offensive baseball is virtually non-existent come the summertime. 

Consider this - the ICL’s batting average at Huskins Field is 52 points less than any other field in the ICL, 59 points below the ICL average and 106 points less than what ICL batters hit at Ferullo Field in Woburn. Toss in the fact that all batters are close to the Mendoza line, hitting a paltry .205, with an on base percentage of just .294 and slugging percentage of .260, which are all league lows. 

If you throw aside the Chiefs’ 12-7 opening night win against the Tanners and the Americans 11-5 win in early July, when the wind was blowing out on both occasions, there have been a total of 42 runs scored in the other twelve games. Without having everyone reach for the calculator, that number translates into the fact both teams are combining for 3.5 runs per game.

Aside from the aforementioned two games, there have only been 84 hits in the remaining dozen games or an average of 7.0 per game. In league like the ICL that is stacked with outstanding hitters, those numbers are staggering! The average linescore at Huskins has been 1.75 runs and 3.5 hits per game, per team. 

The Chiefs have played 26 games so far this season, 13 at Huskins and 13 on the road. Here's how the numbers stack up.

Split	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG	OPS
Home/Away
Huskins	13	321	40	72	8	1	3	37	33	49	.301	.283	.224	.584
Away	13	378	76	107	16	3	3	66	40	36	.361	.365	.283	.726

Astute observers would argue that a field with such big dimensions would have plenty of room in the alleys and therefore yield plenty of gap shot extra basehits. Not so! At Huskins there have been only 15 doubles, two triples and just four home runs, all to right field.

Incredibly, ICL batters strike out with less frequency at Huskins than any other field in the ICL. Simply said, batters are making contact but the ball is going nowhere. That provides solid reasoning as to why the average ICL game at Huskins takes less than an hour and a half.

2009 Intercity League Batting by Field

Field	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OBP	SLG	AVG
Ferullo Field	766	155	238	30	5	7	135	82	123	.386	.390	.311
Walsh Field	765	109	204	34	4	1	86	53	117	.326	.325	.267
Lexington HS	782	117	208	35	1	2	98	90	132	.354	.321	.266
Playstead	716	109	185	28	1	9	97	69	120	.341	.338	.258
East Boston	505	71	130	10	3	1	59	56	84	.348	.295	.257
Huskins	570	77	117	15	2	4	67	66	88	.294	.260	.205
Totals	4104	638	1082	152	16	24	542	416	664	.343	.326	.264

So batters beware and pitchers rejoice! Huskins is ready to humble you. - Bruce Tillman 

Medford, MA- Jack Laurendeau and Dan Graham hit back to back first inning doubles, resulting in the only run of the game, as the Lexington Blue Sox nipped the Chiefs at run starved Tufts University on Monday. 

With the win the Blue Sox clinched the 2009 regular season pennant. 

The game featured an outstanding pitching match up between Lexington’s Steve Bodnar (5-0) and the Chiefs Dylan Ellis (3-1). Both pitchers allowed just four hits. Ellis struck out six while Bodnar struck out three. 

Ellis struck out Ross Curley to open the top of the first inning. Laurendeau then hit an opposite field double down the left field line. Graham followed with a long blast off the base of the fence in right scoring Laurendeau. Ellis walked Matt McEvoy but escaped further trouble when Sean McElroy flew out and Ben Hewett bounced out. 

That was all the Sox were to get off Ellis on this night as he surrendered just a second inning triple to Eric Poling and a seventh inning infield hit to Anthony Coscia. The southpaw retired 16 batters in a row before Coscia’s infield hit, which came with two outs in seventh. 

The problem for the Chiefs was that they could not break through against the always tough Bodnar.

In the bottom of the first, Brendan Pyburn hit a bloop single down the left field line but was erased on Jeff Bercume’s fielder’s choice. Bercume was then thrown trying to steal second by Poling. 

Peter Copa led off the Chiefs’ second with a seeing eye single that fell between the mound and first base. But Bodnar retired the next three batters in a row when Mike Andre lined to center, Justin Crisafulli struck out swinging and Dario Pizzano flew to right. 

The Chiefs’ had their best scoring opportunity in third inning when Brian Macrina and Bob McCarthy both singled putting runners on first and second with nobody out. Hal Landers followed, and after two unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempts, Bodnar struck him out swinging. Pyburn then hit into a fielder’s choice forcing McCarthy out at second and leaving runners on the corners with two away. Bodnar got out of it when Jeff Bercume flew to left ending the inning. 

The Chiefs threatened to tie it up in the seventh but came up empty. Andre drew a leadoff walk and Mike Barbati pinch ran for him. Crisafulli then hit a ball back at Bodnar which he knocked down and recovered in time to get Crisafulli by a step at first with Barbati taking second on the play. Pizzano followed and flew to shallow center for the inning’s second out. With Macrina at the plate, Bodnar uncorked a wild pitch that sent Barbati to third. That was as far as Barbati got when Bodnar got Macrina to fly to center to end the game. 

The Chiefs have a rare day off on Tuesday and resume ICL play on Wednesday at 6:00 PM when they travel to Playstead Park to face the Americans. The Blue Sox are back in action tonight when they host the Wakefield Merchants in an 8:00 PM start in Lexington.     

Medford, MA- Mike DiCato took a no-hitter and shutout into the seventh inning as the Chiefs held on to beat the Testa Corp. Bombers in "suddenly" dramatic fashion 3-2 at Tufts University on Sunday afternoon. 

DiCato, the former Malden Catholic All-American and UMass-Amherst standout, raised his personal season mark to 5-2. 

After DiCato set the Bombers down in order in the top of the first inning, including strikeouts of Vin Eruzione & Josh Klimkiewicz, the Chiefs struck for a run in bottom of the frame. Bombers starter Bobby Giarrantani (Bishop Fenwick/Denison College) got Hal Landers to fly to center for the first out. Giarrantani walked his former high school teammate Brendan Pyburn and the Chiefs shortstop promptly stole second. Jeff Bercume flew to center for the second out before Peter Copa, who was newly inserted into the clean-up slot, made that move pay immediate dividends when he roped a single to left scoring Pyburn. 

The Bombers went 1-2-3 again in the second and Giarrantani got Justin Crisafulli to pop up,  Mike Andre to fly deep to right and Bob McCarthy swinging on strikes in the Chiefs half of the inning. 

DiCato came out throwing smoke in the top of the third as he struck out the side in order (Boston College quarterback Alex Atiyeh, Colin Quirk & Joe Papa).

Giarrantani returned the favor in the home half of the frame getting Landers and Bercume to groundout and Pyburn on a fly ball. 

It was twelve up and twelve down for DiCato in the fourth, retiring Jay DeFilippo on a groundout, Eruzione looking and Klimkiewicz on a bouncer to Pyburn. 

Giarrantani looked as if he was getting stronger as he had a rocking chair bottom of the fourth.The right-hander got Copa on a groundout, Pizzano to line to first and Crisafulli on a warning track fly ball to centerfield. 

Nick Martinho’s walk to start the fifth broke up DiCato’s perfect game. DiCato then picked his former Malden Catholic teammate off first base, before getting Mike Adessa to fly out and catcher Steve Wadsworth to line to Pyburn, to keep the Bombers at the minimum fifteen batters through five innings. 

The Chiefs came up with a big run to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Andre led off and roped his fifth double off the season into the right field corner. After two unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempts, Giarrantani struck out J.P. Pollard swinging for the first out. Things worked out for the Chiefs when Andre scampered to third on a wild pitch. That proved to be big when Bob McCarthy hit the next pitch to centerfield for a sacrifice fly that allowed Andre to tag up and score the second run of the game.

Nothing doing against DiCato for Testa in the top of the sixth as he set down Atiyeh (groundout), Quirk (fly to right) and Papa (lineout to center) to keep the Bombers at the minimum eighteen batters sthrough six innings. 

Rookie Dario Pizzano delivered what proved to be the game winning run, when he singled home Copa, who had walked and stole second, with two outs in the sixth to make it 3-0 heading into the seventh.

DiCato walked DeFilippo leading off the seventh. Eruzione then hit a chopper to Pyburn at shortstop who flipped to Copa for the force at second with the relay to first being a half step late. It looked as if DiCato was going to get his no-hitter when Klimkiewicz hit a hard grounder headed for Copa in doubleplay depth at second. DiCato got a piece of the ball as it went by the mound and it deflected just to left of Copa for an infield single. Trouble was begining to brew when Martinho drew the second walk of the inning to load the bases. Adessa did his best to spoil DiCato’s gem, as well as the afternoon for Chiefs fans, when he unloaded a shot to the right-centerfield gap that scored Eruzione and Klimkiewicz and sent Martinho barreling around third with the potential tying run. A perfect relay from Landers to Copa to McCarthy cut down Martinho at the plate on a very close play as the Chiefs clung to the 3-2 lead. With Adessa at second, DiCato finished his day’s work by getting Wadsworth to ground to Pollard at first preserving the win. 

“I was in perfect position on Klimkiewicz’s grounder in the seventh”, said Copa after the game. “It was hit hard enough that we would have had a great chance to turn the doubleplay and get Mike his no-hitter. It is a natural reaction for any pitcher, especially one like him who has played so much infield, to try and get his glove on the ball. Once Mike deflected it I had no chance,” Copa added. 

DiCato finished with a two-hitter, striking out six, while lowering his ERA to 2.16. It was his fifth complete game of the season. Giarrantani was almost as good allowing just three hits, (Copa & Pizzano RBI singles & Andre’s double) while fanning one and walking a couple. 

The Chiefs are right back at it on Monday when they host the first place Lexington Blue Sox at Tufts at 6:00 PM. Southpaw Dylan Ellis (3-0) will draw the starting pitching assignment.   

(Courtesy of medfordamericans.com) 
Medford, MA- After former Tufts University captain Brian Casey shut out the Andre Chiefs Wednesday night at Huskins Field, Dave Martin had a jumbo act to follow when the Americans' second former Tufts pitcher took the mound on his college field in a rematch with the Chiefs Thursday night.

Not to be outdone, the veteran righthander overcame first inning hamstring tightness and nearly matched Casey's effort. Martin lowered his earned run average to a lilliputian 0.26 and improved his record to 3-0-1 with the win, allowing just one unearned run on five hits and two hit batters while striking out seven and walking three in a seven inning, route going performance.

The Chiefs' Robert Machado, pitching on three days rest, was almost as good, surrendering just one hit and two walks with a strike out through five full innings before tiring in the sixth when Medford pushed across both of their runs to hand him the loss.

Mike Dicato, a former Malden Catholic and current UMass Amherst teammate of Machado, allowed a run scoring single after being summoned from the pen by Chiefs' skipper Chuck Andre with two men out in the sixth, a run in, and runners at first and second. He walked one and struck out one in one and one third innings.

Following a lead off walk to Jonathan Pollard in the top of the second, Pete Copa singled with two outs and Bob McCarthy was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Martin powered his way out of the jam by striking out Hal Landers. He wasn't as fortunate in the third when the Chiefs took a 1-0 lead. Brendan Pyburn doubled to right leading off, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a Jeff Bercume sacrifice fly to Steve Tahmoush in right. He surrendered a lead off single to Brian Macrina in the fourth. Macrina promptly stole second with nobody out but he was stranded there when Martin got the next three Chief hitters in order, striking out Kevin McKenzie for the third out.

The Chiefs threatened again in the fifth when Landers lead off single was followed by a Pyburn walk. With runners at first and second, Martin struck out current Intercity League runs batted in leader Jeff Bercume and got 2008 Intercity League runs batted in leader Justin Crisafulli to fly out to center before reaching back for a little extra to strike out Pollard and end the inning.

While Martin battled to get out of innings, Machado cruised. He allowed a lead off single to Tahmoush in the first and saw him sacrificed to second by Luke Begley before retiring Mike DelPonte on a grounder to second and Mike Kalfopoulos on a ground ball to first. Machado set the Americans down in order in the second and third. He walked Begley leading off the fourth but retired the next three hitters. With one out in the fifth, Jay Olson walked but was thrown out trying to steal second and Bill Smeglin struck out.

Machado ran out of gas in the sixth and the Americans rallied for the two runs they needed to win the game. Mike Burgoyne led off with a single to right. He stole second with nobody out and moved to third when Steve Tahmoush grounded out to second for out number one. Machado nearly escaped by getting Begley to foul out to Pollard at first but he couldn't get Mike Delponte whose line drive base hit to center drove in Burgoyne with the tying run.

Mike Kalpopoulos kept things going when he singled to right, sending DelPonte into scoring position at second. DiCato took over and the red hot K.C. McCarthy welcomed him with a liner down the left field line that kicked up chalk and drove in DelPonte with the go ahead and what proved to be winning run. The run batted in by McCarthy, who joined the team July 8, was his twelfth in nine games played.

The resilient Chiefs refused to go easily as they mounted a rally of their own in the bottom of the sixth. Mike Andre doubled to deep right center with one man out and Mike Barbati was inserted as a pinch runner. Copa's ground ball to Martin resulted in the second out and moved Barbati to third. Pinch hitter Dario Pizzano made it first and third when he worked a walk, but Martin wiggled out of it when he got Landers to ground out to Mike Ferriero at short. In the seventh, Martin set the Chiefs down one, two, three to secure the win.

With five regular season games remaining, the Americans leap frogged over the Chiefs into second place with the win. At 13-9-3 they have 29 points, one more than the third place Chiefs. At 13-9-2 the Chiefs hold a game in hand on the Americans. Both teams trail the first place Lexington Blue Sox whose 17-4-2 record gives them 36 points.

Chiefs Chatter......All ICL games were postponed on Friday. Saturday, the Americans are home at Playstead Park in a 1:00 PM affair with the Testa Corporation Bombers. The Chiefs entertain the Bombers on Sunday at 1:00 PM at Tufts.....There was a scary moment in the second inning when Chiefs catcher Bob McCarthy was struck on the side on the face with a pitch. McCarthy stayed in the game for another half inning before being replaced by rookie Kevin McKenzie (Arlington, MA/Wentworth). McKenzie threw out the first runner of his ICL career when he gunned out Jay Olsen in the fifth inning. McCarthy was reportedly okay after the game and his status is day to day....Hal Landers took over the Chiefs team lead in batting average. The rookie (Salem, NH/Wheaton) is currently hitting .352 while centerfielder Jeff Bercume is a point behind at .351. Both are in top five of the ICL....Mike DiCato is the Chiefs expected starter on Sunday while lefty Dylan Ellis will get the start on Monday vs. Lexington....

(Courtesy of MedfordAmericans.com) 
Medford, MA - Brian Casey returned to the familiar mound at Huskins Field on the campus of Tufts University where he enjoyed much college pitching success Wednesday night and made himself at home, throwing a rocking chair, complete game, three hit masterpiece to lead the Americans to a 7-0 victory over the host Andre Chiefs. 

In running his record to 5-1, Casey recorded his second shutout on the season and his fourth complete game. He allowed just four Chief base runners on three singles and a walk while striking out seven.

Chief's starter Chris Foundas (1-1) had control problems from the outset and took the loss. He walked three, hit two batters, struck out two, and allowed four earned runs on five hits in three full innings. Matt Boleski worked the Chief's fourth and gave up three earned runs on three hits and two walks. Chris Labriola shut the Americans down in the fifth and sixth on one hit and one walk while striking out three. Connor Bishop struck out one in finishing up a scoreless seventh, working out of a bases loaded one out jam following a pair of walks and a single.

The Americans got all the runs they would need before making an out in the first. Foundas opened the game by hitting Luke Begley and walking Dave Ahern and Mike DelPonte in succession to load the bases. K.C. McCarthy made him pay when he lined a base hit to the opposite field in left to score Begley and Ahern and give the Americans a 2-0 lead. The RBI were McCarthy's tenth and eleventh in just eight games played for the Americans.

They tacked on two more in the fourth. Ahern doubled to deep right with one out and DelPonte followed with a double to center to chase Ahern home with the third run. McCarthy was hit by a Foundas pitch to put runners at first and second. A Mike Kalfopoulos ground ball forced McCarthy at second leaving runners at the corners. Mike Ferriero walked to load the bases before Jay Olson's seeing eye single found its way into right field to drive home DelPonte and make it 4-0 after three.

Boleski took over on the mound for the Chiefs to start the fourth and was greeted rudely. Begley walked to open the frame and Ahern singled to left. DelPonte fouled to the catcher for the first out but McCarthy earned the second walk of the inning to load the bases. Mike Kalfopoulos stepped to the plate and lined a single down the right field line, scoring Begley and Ahern with the fifth and sixth American runs. Mike Ferriero then joined the hit list when he drove a Boleski fast ball over the head of Jeff Bercume in center that easily scored McCarthy with the seventh run. Ferriero was thrown out at third trying to stretch the double to a triple, ending the inning before Kalfopoulos could cross the plate with the eighth run. The rest was all Casey as he cruised to the victory, striking out the side in the seventh to end it.

With six regular season games to go, the Americans find themselves in third place with twenty-seven points, one point behind the second place Chiefs in the standings and nine points behind the first place Lexington Blue Sox.

The Americans return to Huskins Field Thursday when the Chiefs will again host their cross-town rivals. Dave Martin, another former Tufts University Jumbo pitcher, will be on the mound for the Americans in the 6:00 pm start. The Chiefs are expected to counter with rookie right-hander Rob Machado (1-2) of UMass-Amherst.

East Boston, MA- The Chiefs exploded for nine sixth inning runs, keyed by Jeff Bercume’s second grand slam and third home run in three days, to blow open a close 2-1 game on the way to an 11-1 win over the Testa Corp. Bombers on Tuesday night at East Boston Stadium. 

Ryan McNeill (2-1-1) was impressive once again in picking up his second win of the summer. The Lynnfield native went the six inning distance, scattered five hits and struck out four. The game was called in the bottom of the seventh due to a light failure in East Boston. 

McNeill and Bombers starter Jim Simon (Curry/Deerfield Beach, FL) both threw blanks through the first two innings before the Chiefs broke the scoring ice in the top of the third. Torrid Hal Landers (8 for his last 15), started things off with a bullet single to right. Brendan Pyburn then drew a walk and Bercume picked up his first RBI of the night with a single to center that scored Landers. Justin Crisafulli followed with a RBI single to right that scored Pyburn to make it 2-0. Simon, who was 6-1 this spring for Curry College, escaped the inning without further damage when he got Peter Copa to pop up and Brian Macrina to hit into a 6-4-3 doubleplay. 

It stayed a 2-0 game until the bottom of the fifth when the Bombers finally broke through against McNeill to cut the lead to 2-1. Consecutive singles from Vin Eruzione and Mike Navarro put the Bombers in business with nobody out. Kevin O’Leary then moved the runners up to second and third with a sacrifice bunt. ICL all-star Jay DeFillipo then got the Bombers on the board with a single to left that scored Eruzione with Navarro stopping at third. McNeill then got the biggest out of the game when he struck out Joe Papa swinging. 2008 ICL MVP Josh Klimkiewicz (Harvard/El Paso) followed and McNeill got him to ground sharply to Pyburn at short to preserve the Chiefs one run lead. 

The Chiefs sent 14 men to the plate in the sixth inning, scored nine times and banged out a half dozen hits. Copa got things started when he drew a full count walk. Macrina and Copa then executed a perfect hit and run with Macrina singling to right and Copa going to third. Simon then got a big out when he got Mike Andre to fly to short left for the first out. Trinity righty Eddie Donovan replaced Simon on the hill and he walked Dario Pizzazno to load the bases for catcher Bob McCarthy. McCarthy put up the best at bat of night, going ten pitches deep, before hitting a chopper at Bombers third baseman Mike Adessa. Adessa came up with the ball but his throw home was low as Copa slid across with the Chiefs third run. Landers then ripped a single that scored Macrina to make it 4-1. Pyburn worked a bases loaded walk to run the lead to 5-1 and setting the stage for Bercume. The Chiefs centerfielder then drilled a bomb to right for a grand slam that put the Chiefs comfortably in front at 9-1. After Crisafulli lined out, Copa reached on an infield single and Macrina chalked up his second single of the inning. Andre then drove them both home with a long double to right-center upping the margin to 11-1.

McNeill held the Bombers scoreless in the top of the sixth and the Chiefs went 1-2-3 in the seventh.  

Bill Cataldo, who came on to play second base, threw pinch-hitter Steve Buitkus out on ground ball for the first out of the Bombers seventh, before there was a sudden light failure at the Stadium that sent the field into darkness. As a result, the game went into the books as a six inning affair, with all statistics from the seventh inning (neither team recorded a hit or a run) being wiped out. 

McNeill struck out four and walked a couple while lowering his ERA to 2.19.

Chiefs Chatter…..Bercume, with his five RBI, has taken over the ICL lead in that category with 21. He had a grand slam and a two-run homer along with eight RBI in Sunday’s doubleheader at Woburn and has raised his average to .382 to move into third place in the ICL’s batting race….Landers has moved his average to .367 and currently sits in fifth place…. The Chiefs begin a two game series with the Medford Americans at Tufts University on Wednesday at 6:00 PM.

 
Plenty of Merrimack Warriors Flavor! Current Chiefs Brian Macrina (Captain 1999), Jeff Bercume (Captain 2008-09), Mike Andre (Capatin 2009), Bob McCarthy (2009) and Brendan Pyburn (Captain-elect 2010) have combined for 850 hits in their D-2 Merrimack College careers. Macrina (1996-99) played for Barry Rosen while Bercume, Andre, McCarthy and Pyburn all played four years under current Warriors Head Coach Joe Sarno. Pyburn will return to Merrimack for his senior season in September.

Medford, MA- Mike DiCato tossed a complete game three-hitter to get the Chiefs past the Mooney Dental Tanners 4-1 at Tufts University on Monday evening. It was the Chiefs third straight over the Woburn based club having swept a doubleheader on Sunday 12-4 and 9-2. 

DiCato was in control from start to finish. He took a no-hitter into the fifth inning and lost his shutout bid with two outs in the seventh on a wind blown infield pop-up single. 

Wind was once again a factor at Tufts on this night, knocking down ball after ball and causing havoc with routine fly balls. 

The Chiefs provided DiCato with single tallies in each of the first three innings. After DiCato had an easy 1-2-3 first inning, red hot Hal Landers drew a leadoff walk for the Chiefs but Tanners starter Joe Harvey got Brendan Pyburn swinging. Landers then stole second before Jeff Bercume flew out deep to right-center for the second out. Cleanup man Justin Crisafulli then came through with a RBI single to center that scored Landers. 

DiCato set the Tanners side down in order again in the second and the Chiefs added another run in the bottom on the inning on a Landers RBI single that scored Bob McCarthy who had walked. 

A one out walk was all DiCato would yield in the third and the Chiefs made it a 3-0 game in the home half of the inning when Crisafulli picked up his second RBI on infield ground out. 

DiCato worked another 1-2-3 inning and Harvey kept the Chiefs off the board in fourth despite a leadoff single from Mike Andre. 

The no-hit bid ended in the top of the fifth when Phil Recco drilled a clean line drive single to right-center.  

DiCato walked Jon Smart to start the Tanners sixth but he was erased when Matt Ruane bounced into a 6-4-3 doubleplay. 

The Chiefs added their fourth run in the bottom of the sixth. JP Pollard reached on throwing error and Andre sacrificed him to third. McCarthy then drew a walk and was thrown out trying to steal second with Pollard scoring on the play. 

DiCato took his one hitter and shutout into the seventh and things got a little interesting courtesy of a little shoddy defense and a whole lot of wind. Joe Smith led off and reached on an error when Pyburn bobbled his grounder. DiCato got Keegan DeNapoli looking for the first out and Andre made a nice play charging a Recco slow grounder and throwing him out at first for out number two. Bob Wronski then hit a towering pop-up that appeared would end the game and give DiCato the shutout. The wind took over and the ball fell between second baseman Mike Barbati and DiCato near the mound and was scored a base hit. Smith, running with two outs, scored on the play as the Tanners averted the shutout. Pinch-hitter Ryan Doyle then singled to right and when DiCato walked Alex Stotik to load the bases the Tanners suddenly had the go ahead run at the plate in Brian Svenson. DiCato got Svenson down in the count 0-2  and got him to hit a one hopper at Andre to end the game. 

Harvey pitched very well for Mooney allowing just four hits (Landers, Pyburn, Andre & Crisafulli). DiCato struck out six and raised his record to 4-2. 

Ryan McNeill will get the start when the Chiefs travel to East Boston Stadium on Tuesday at 8:00 PM to face the Bombers.

Woburn, MA- Jeff Bercume hit two home runs in Game One, including a third inning grand slam, and knocked in eight runs on the night to lead the Chiefs to a doubleheader sweep over the Mooney Dental Tanners at Ferullo Field on Sunday evening. 

Game One- Chiefs 12, Tanners 4 - The Chiefs overcame a rocky start, trailing 3-0 after two innings, to beat the Tanners 12-4.  

Mooney got to Chiefs starter Dan Lozeau early to grab a 2-0 lead in the first inning on four consecutive singles from Ben Mullin, Matt Ruane, Nick Napoli and Bob Wronski. Lozeau averted more damage with the bases loaded when the Chiefs turned a 5-2-3 (Mike Andre to Bob McCarthy to JP Pollard) inning ending doubleplay. 

The Tanners were right back at it in the second and picked up their third run on a Derek Dettorre double and a Ruane sacrifice fly. Rob Machado came on in relief of Lozeau with the bases juiced and two outs and escaped the jam when he got Ryan Doyle to foul out. 

Bercume brought the Chiefs back quickly in the top of the third against Tanners starter Max McKenna (Amherst). He hit his grand slam to right-center scoring Andre and McCarthy, who had both singled, and Brendan Pyburn who drew a base on balls. 

The Chiefs put up another four spot in the fourth. Dario Pizzano walked, Peter Copa reached on an error and Pollard singled to load the bases. Andre then drilled McKenna’s first pitch down the right field line scoring Pizzano and Copa to make it a 6-3 affair. A Pyburn single scored Pollard and a long sacrifice fly to left by Brian Macrina plated Andre to run the Chiefs margin to 8-3. 

Joe Smith’s long triple and Keegan DeNapoli’s RBI single off Machado cut the lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the fifth before the Chiefs put it out of reach with four more runs in the top of the sixth.

 Bercume hit his second round tripper of the night to straight away right scoring Pyburn (double) ahead of him. The Chiefs weren’t finished as Justin Crisafulli drew a walk, Pizzano doubled and pinch hitter Mike Barbati drove a sacrifice fly to right to make it 11-4. Pollard followed with another RBI single scoring Pizzano to account for the 12-4 final. 

Machado (1-2) picked up his first ICL win with 4.1 innings of one run, four hit relief work. The UMass-Amherst righty struck out four and did not issue a walk. 

Game Two- Chiefs 9, Tanners 2- The Chiefs took a quick 1-0 first inning lead in the night cap. Hal Landers drilled a leadoff single to center and Pyburn reached on fielder’s choice that erased Landers at second. Tanners starter Marc Collins’ errant attempt to pick Pyburn off first allowed the Chiefs shortstop to scamper all the way to third. He did not stay there long as Bercume promptly delivered him with a sacrifice fly to left. 

The Tanners came right back at southpaw Dylan Ellis to take a 2-1 lead of their own in the bottom of the inning when DeNapoli unloaded with a long two RBI double to center. 

The Chiefs drew even at 2-2 in the third on Bercume’s second single of  Game Two and eighth RBI of the day when he delivered McCarthy who had walked. 

Ellis got a little breathing room an inning later when the Chiefs scored two runs to take a 4-2 lead when Landers drilled a two RBI single to center scoring Andre and Macrina.  

It went to 5-2 Chiefs in the sixth on a single from Andre, a McCarthy walk and an infield error. 

Four more runs came across for the Chiefs in the seventh on singles by Bercume, Crisafulli and Landers (2 more RBI) and a long double from Pollard that opened the lead to 9-2. 

The Tanners loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the seventh. The defensive play of the day was turned in by Barbati at second base when he dove to his right to glove Mullin’s screaming liner and then fired a strike to Pollard at first for a doubleplay that ended the game. 

Elllis, now 3-0, went the distance allowing seven hits and striking out seven. 

The Chiefs and Tanners are right back at it on Monday in a 6:00 PM start at Tufts University. Mike DiCato (3-2) will get the nod for the Chiefs.   

Woburn, MA- The Chiefs will visit Ferullo Field in Woburn on Sunday as they take on the Mooney Dental Tanners in a doubleheader starting at 5:30 PM. On Monday, the two teams will play at Tufts University in a 6:00 PM start. Monday's game is a make-up of the game that was rained out on Thursday.

Wet grounds caused the postponement of Friday's game at Tufts with Lexington. No make-up date has been announced for this game as yet.

After the three game set with the Tanners, the Chiefs travel to East Boston Stadium to meet the Testa Corp. Bombers on Tuesday night at 8:00 PM before returning home to host the Medford Americans on both Wednesday and Thursday. Next Friday, the Chiefs host the Blue Sox, also at Tufts University, at 6:00 PM. 

Wakefield, MA- Three runs on thirteen hits. 

Not bad offensive numbers for an ICL game. 

When that is your team’s total over a three game stretch, you are not going to put many “W’s” in the win column.  

Such is the latest saga of the Chiefs, who remain mired in a team-wide batting funk. The most recent chapter of non-production came on Wednesday night at Walsh Field when Trinity lefty and ICL all-star James Ramsey held the Chiefs to a single run for the third straight game. 

Ramsey was the story in this one as he surrendered just three hits, two of the infield variety, as the Merchants sent the unproductive Chiefs to their second straight defeat, 3-1. Chiefs’ right-hander Mike DiCato suffered the loss but certainly pitched well enough to win. 

The Merchants struck for two runs in the bottom of the second inning on singles from Jason Banos and Alex LiDonni and a Matt Russo double. 

After that, both DiCato and Ramsey made it a two man show with Ramsey not allowing a hit until rookie Dario Pizzano tripled with one out in fifth. 

The Merchants lead went to 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth. L.J. Demaino singled and went to second when DiCato’s pickoff attempt skipped by J.P. Pollard. DiCato got Kevin Johnson to pop up and struck out Mike Sorrentino before Taylor von Kriengenbergh delivered Demaino with a two out single to center. 

The Chiefs averted the shutout picking up a run in the sixth and threatened for more. Hal Landers led off and beat out a bunt single. Brendan Pyburn followed with infield single that glanced off Johnson’s glove at shortstop and went into short centerfield, allowing Landers to move to third. Bob McCarthy then hit a roller at first baseman Jason Roth and Landers beat his throw home to make it 3-1 and leaving runners on first and second with nobody out. Ramsey slammed the door shut when he got Bercume on groundout and then got Crisafulli to hit into a 5-4-3 doubleplay. 

Ryan McNeill came on to work a scoreless sixth inning for the Chiefs and allowed a single to Jon Davison.  

Ramsey made easy work of the Chiefs in the top of the seventh, retiring Pollard and Pizzano on infield grounders and ending things when he got Peter Copa to foul out to third. 

Ramsey, who worked a scoreless 1-2-3 inning for the ICL in Sunday’s all-star game, struck out just one and did not issue a walk. 

DiCato, now 3-2, allowed just six hits in his five innings of work, struck out two, walked one and hit a batter. 

The Chiefs will try and rebound on Thursday when they host the Mooney Dental Tanners at Tufts University at 6:00 PM. Dan Lozeau is expected to get the starting assignment for the Chiefs.   

Wet grounds and more rain in the forecast for tonight (Tuesday) has already caused the early postponement of all three Intercity League games that were scheduled.

The Medford Americans at Chiefs game scheduled for Tufts University at 6:00 PM has been washed out and will be made up on Wednesday, July 29 at 6:00 PM.

The Wakefield Merchants at Lexington Blue Sox game at Lexington High School has also been postponed. The teams are currently working on a make-up date which is expected to be announced soon.

The Mooney Dental Tanners at Testa Corp. Bombers game, slated for East Boston Stadium, was postponed at 4:45 PM. Bombers management observed the conditions of the artificial surface and decided that the ongoing rain would render the field unplayable.

In ICL action on Monday night, the first place Blue Sox beat the Chiefs 7-1 at Lexington High School and the Medford Americans jumped out to a 7-1 lead and held on to knock off the Testa Corp. Bombers 7-6 at Playstead Park in Medford.

On Wednesday, the Chiefs will travel to Wakefield to meet the Merchants at Walsh Field in a 6:00 PM start and the Bombers head to Lexington High School to meet the Blue Sox under the lights at 8:00 PM.

All schedule and weather related updates are immediately posted on the Intercity League's website at www.intercityleaguebaseball.com.

Lexington, MA- The defending champion Blue Sox knocked off the Chiefs in Lexington on Monday night, 7-1. It was the third time in two weeks that the Sox beat the Chiefs at home. The teams will meet three more times during the regular season, all at Tufts University. 

The Sox runs came in two bunches, scoring three times in the bottom of the first and adding a four spot in the fourth inning.  

Things started well enough for the Chiefs when leadoff man Brendan Pyburn reached on an infield single. Sox starter Tim Bryant then retired the next three batters in a row when Bob McCarthy grounded out, Jeff Bercume flew to center and Dario Pizzano was called out on strikes. 

Lexington went right to work against Chiefs rookie right-hander Rob Machado (UMass-Amherst) in bottom of the first. Machado walked leadoff man Pete Frates and then surrendered consecutive singles to Ross Curley and Dan Graham to load the bases. Steve Gath delivered a sacrifice fly to right scoring Frates for a 1-0 Sox lead. Matt McEvoy drew Machado’s second walk of the inning to re-load the bases and Sean McElroy quickly unloaded them when he delivered a two RBI single to put Lexington in front 3-0. 

Bryant gave up a second inning double to J.P. Pollard and Machado settled down a bit in the bottom of the inning to keep it a 3-0 game. 

Both pitchers got the respective sides in order in third and the Chiefs made a bit of noise in the top of the fourth. Bercume led off with a single to center and Bryant got the first out when he caught Pizzano looking for the second time. Peter Copa then singled to right to put two men on with one away. McEvoy then made the defensive play of the night when he robbed Pollard of extra bases with a diving catch in the left-centerfield gap. The threat went by the boards when Bryant struck out Mike Barbati looking. 

The Blue Sox chased Machado and put the game away when they scored four times in the bottom of the fourth to go up 7-zip. McEvoy was hit by a pitch and Jeff Nolet drilled a single to left that skipped past Pizzano and went all the way to fence allowing McEvoy to score from first. Machado then got Rollins star Ben Hewett to ground out to Barbati but Frates followed with a line single to left that scored Nolet to make it 5-0 and ended Machado’s night. Chris Foundas came in from the bullpen and struck out Curley before allowing consecutive singles to Graham and Gath that pushed the Sox lead to 7-0. 

Hal Landers picked up a one out single in the Chiefs fifth but the inning ended when Pyburn bounced into a 5-4-3 doubleplay. 

Foundas regained some of the form that made him the ICL’s all-star closer in 2008 when he retired the Sox side in order in the bottom of the fifth. 

The Chiefs finally broke their nineteen inning scoring drought at Lexington in the sixth. McCarthy led off with a double down the left field line and he went to third on a long fly from Bercume that Frates ran down on the warning track in center. Copa’s RBI single, just inside the third base bag, scored McCarthy with the Chiefs only run. 

Lefty Matt Boleski worked an impressive sixth inning for the Chiefs, striking out the side. 

Matt O’Brien from Boston College came on to close things out for the Sox working a 1-2-3 seventh. 

Despite the score, both teams recorded seven hits and there was only one error in the game. Machado (0-2) took the loss for the Chiefs. He worked 3.1 innings, was charged with all seven runs (six earned), gave up five hits, struck out two but walked three and hit two batters. Bryant, the former Bentley righty who is now 2-0, worked six innings, striking out three and walking none while lowering his ERA to 0.57 on the season. 

The Chiefs will send Mike DiCato (3-1) to the hill on Tuesday night, weather permitting, when they host the Medford Americans at Tufts University at 6:00 PM.   

By Bruce Hack
ICBL Media Relations Director

LEXINGTON, MA – Under blue skies and bright skies the best players from the Boston Park League and the best players from the Intercity League got together for the third annual Joe Driscoll Memorial All-Star game and the hosts came away with a 10-9 win at Lexington High School.

All-Star games usually feature great pitching, great defense and timely hitting. This had all that, but was like two games in one. The two teams combined for 19 runs and 20 hits, with 18 of the runs and 12 of the hits coming in the fourth and fifth innings. For all the hits it was a fielders choice that brought in the winning run.The Park League had tied the game at 9-9 with a six-run fifth only to see the Intercity League take the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth with the fourth lead change in two innings
.
Park League hurler Grady Campion (Cannon Club/Oberlin), who entered the game in the fourth, walked the first three batters in the fifth to load the bases. Campion was replaced by Scott Hawpe (Grossman Marketing/Holy Cross) who induced a ground ball to short by Joe Smith (Mooney/Harvard) that scored Taylor von Kriegenbergh (Wakefield/UMass-Lowell) with what turned out to be the winning run for the home squad.

Pitching took over for the final three innings as neither team could push any more runs across the plate.

The Intercity League pitchers combined to set down the last nine Park League batters, four by strikeout.

Wakefield’s Steve Coffey (UMass-Boston) earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the first two batters. His effort earned him Intercity League Co-MVP honors.

Pete Frates (Lexington/Boston College) shared Intercity League MVP honors with Coffey. Frates was 1-for-2 and drove in Brendan Pyburn (Andre/Merrimack), who tripled on the first pitch he saw, with the first run on an infield out in the first inning. He also turned a 9-3 double play in the fourth when he made a great diving catch near the line and doubled up Francis Gonzalez (Boston Padres/Boston English HS) to end the three-run rally by the Park League.

For the second straight year Anthony Del Prete (Testa Corp/Suffolk) started for the Intercity squad and turned in a 1-2-3, seven pitch effort with one strikeout. It was one of only three 3-up, 3-down innings in the game all by Intercity pitchers. The Chiefs Mike DiCato worked the second inning for the ICL, allowing just one hit.

James Ramsey (Wakefield/Trinity) had the second 3-up, 3-down inning when he set down the Park League in the eighth inning on 10 pitches with one strikeout.
Both teams batted around in an inning and sent 11 batters to the plate.

For the Intercity League it happened in the fourth when the hosts turned four walks, four hits and a throwing error into eight runs. A pair of Blue Sox players, Eric Poling (Greenville College) with an RBI single to give the ICBL a 4-3 lead, and Ross Curley (Bentley) a 2-run single had big hits in the inning. Curley also combined with Medford’s Steve Tahmoush (Babson) on a double steal with Tahmoush scoring the seventh run of the inning.

Boston responded with an 11-batter six run fifth inning. Andrew Tenaglia (Grossman Marketing/Holy Cross), who was named BPL MVP for the game, had the big hit a two-single to drive in the third and fourth runs of the inning. He finished 2-for-2 with a run, 2 RBI and also turned an unassisted double play at first base in the seventh. He made a diving catch of a line drive off the bat of Mike DelPonte (Medford/Bryant) and then doubled up Nick Martinho (Testa/Suffolk).

There were four double plays turned in the game, three by the Intercity League and none of them were the usual groundball variety. Two were turned in by Intercity outfielders, the one by Frates and one by Jay DeFillipo (Testa/Siena) who made a catch in center and threw home to nail Ivan Clemente (Cannon Club/Maryland) who bulled his way into catcher Poling. The first ICBL double play came in the third when Josue Feliciano (Carlson Club/MCLA) struck out with runners at first and second. As the ball got away from catcher Bob McCarthy (Andre/Merrimack) he gunned down John Hayes (Grossman/Marketing/Suffolk) going to third.

For the third straight year the two teams played the game in honor of Joe Driscoll, an umpire and friend of many in the Greater Boston baseball community.

The game also showcased the best amateur baseball in the greater Boston area as the players represented both leagues and their teams well and gave the fans a great show.

Medford, MA- Huskins Field has always been known as a pitcher’s ballpark and it can be a very imposing landscape, especially for right-handed hitters.

When there are two good pitchers on the mound and a strong wind is blowing in, it becomes a downright monster! 

Such was the case on Thursday night when the Tanners Max McKenna and the Chiefs Ryan McNeill hooked up in classic pitcher’s duel. The net offensive totals for both teams were; two runs, one earned, and five hits. The end result equaled a 1-1 tie that took a brief one hour and twenty-three minutes to complete. 

It was the eighth league game that ended in a tie so far this season and it becomes another glowing example for the ICL to consider adopting an extra innings format next season.  The Chiefs other tie this year was a 2-2 contest with Wakefield that was completed in an hour and twelve minutes.

The Chiefs scored their only run of the night in the bottom of the first inning when Catcher Bob McCarthy walked, stole second and scored on Justin Crisafulli’s RBI single to right-center. 

The Tanners tied the game in the top of the fifth. Keegan DeNapoli drew a leadoff walk. Derek Dettore followed with a seeing eye grounder between first baseman J.P. Pollard and second baseman Peter Copa. Copa made a nice play to get to the ball but his throw to get Dettore was wide of McNeill who was covering the bag. The play was scored as a hit and an error was charged to Copa on the throw which allowed DeNapoli to go to third. Tanners catcher Jon Smart immediately cashed in when he followed with a sacrifice fly to left-center that scored DeNapoli and tied the game at 1-1. 

Other than Dettore’s infield hit, McNeill allowed just another infield single in the fifth inning.  

After Crisafulli’s RBI single in the first inning, the only other hits the Chiefs could manage against McKenna were a Bercume two out sixth inning single and a Macrina single with one out in the seventh. 

McNeill, who received all-Northeast 10 honors this past spring for Merrimack, struck out three and saw his Chiefs record go to 1-1-1.  

McKenna, who was 3-3 with an ERA of 3.03 in twelve appearances for Amherst College in 2009, also struck out three and hit a batter. McKenna was named to the ICL all-star team yesterday. He has been lights out so far this summer for the Tanners. The Lexington native has surrendered just three earned runs in 23.1 innings of work, struck out 17 and has an impressive ERA of 0.90.  

Medford, MA- J.P. Pollard drilled a bases clearing sixth inning double to left-center field to break a 3-3 tie and give the Chiefs a hard fought 6-3 win over the Medford Americans at Playstead Park on Wednesday night. 

The Chiefs squandered a brief 3-0 fourth inning lead but came back and recorded their third win in four attempts so far this week. 

Chiefs’ starter Dan Lozeau and his counterpart Lee Jamison both threw blanks over the first three frames as the game was scoreless heading into the top of the fourth.  

Jeff Bercume got things started in the Chiefs fourth inning when he drilled a long triple off the base of the fence in right. Jamison got Justin Crisafulli to flyout to short right for the first out and then walked rookie Dario Pizzano to put runners on the corners with one out. Veteran Brian Macrina then delivered Bercume with the first of his three hits on the night to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Mike Andre then flew to left for the inning’s second out. Peter Copa followed and he made it 2-zip with a single that scored Pizzano. Pollard then hit a hard one-hopper that handcuffed second baseman Monte Marrocco allowing Macrina to score making it 3-0. 

The Americans came right back to knot things up in the bottom of the inning. Ageless veteran Mike Kalfopoulos showed why he was once the most feared hitter in the ICL when he lined a Lozeau fastball into the right-center field gap for a bases clearing three RBI double that scored KC McCarthy (single), Mike Delponte (walk) and Steve Napier (single).  

It stayed a 3-3 contest until the Chiefs put up the go ahead runs in the sixth. Macrina lined his third single of the game to left and Andre followed with another single to left-center. Copa then dropped a perfect bunt that went for a single and loaded the bases. Pollard stepped up and quickly emptied them with his stand-up double. 

Lozeau struck out the side in order in the sixth and Medford reliever Ryan McNiff held the Chiefs scoreless in the seventh. 

Things got a bit interesting in the bottom of the seventh before Lozeau closed things out. Kalfopoulos grounded out to Mike Barbati at second, who made a nice play in short right to throw him out by a step and Mike Ferriero flew to Pizzano in right for out number two. Lozeau then issued a walk to Jay Olson and Mike Burgoyne pinch ran for him. Marrocco then singled to deep short to bring Steve Tahmoush to the plate representing the tying run. Lozeau ended it when he got Tahmoush to pop up to Barbati at second base.

Lozeau, who evens his record at 2-2 with the win, allowed five hits and struck out six. Jamison (2-3) took the loss for the Americans. 

The Chiefs will send right-hander Ryan McNeill (1-1) to the mound on Thursday when they return home to meet the Mooney Dental Tanners at Tufts University at 6:00 PM.

East Boston, MA- Anthony Del Prete outdueled rookie Rob Machado as the Bombers edged the Chiefs 2-0 at East Boston Stadium.

Del Prete scattered three hits and struck out three while raising his season mark to 3-0 and lowering his ERA to 0.50. Del Prete has been beaten only once in fifteen decisions (11-1-3) since returning to the ICL in 2008 after a four year professional career. He spent one season in the Northeast League and three years pitching for Evansville of the Frontier League.

Former Harvard star Josh Klimkiewicz's second inning single and Joe Papa's bases loaded walk in the fourth accounted for the two Bomber RBI's.

Machado pitched well in his first ICL start despite taking the loss. The UMass-Amherst righty via Malden Catholic surrendered just four hits, struck out five and walked five.

Singles from Dario Pizzano (2nd inning), Peter Copa (3rd inning) and Jeff Bercume (6th inning) was all the offense the Chiefs could manage against Del Prete.

The Chiefs travel to Playstead Park in Medford on Wednesday night when the take on the Medford Americans at 6:00 PM. Dan Lozeau (1-2) will get the start for the Chiefs while the Americans will counter with righthanded veteran Lee Jamison (2-2).

The Chiefs return home to Tufts University on Thursday when the host the Mooney Dental Tanners. Ryan McNeill (1-1) is the expected starter for the Chiefs against the Tanners.

Medford, MA- You knew when you saw the pitching match-up at Tufts University on Monday evening that this was going to be a low scoring, pitching dominated game. 

Taking the mound for the visiting Wakefield Merchants was right-hander Jarrod Marchesi, the former Everett High and Bentley College ace, who just concluded his collegiate career with a 19-12 record. He was named all Northeast-10 as a junior when he went 8-3 for the Falcons. 

In the other corner was the Chiefs’ Mike DiCato, the former Malden Catholic all-American who led his team to a 2003 state championship and just wrapped up his four year stint at UMass-Amherst with 59 appearances, including wins over Boston College as well as Harvard in the 2008 Beanpot at Fenway Park. 

Neither Marchesi nor DiCato would disappoint on this night. 

The Chiefs eventually came away with a come from behind 3-1 win, tallying three times off Marchesi in the bottom of the sixth. The big blow came off the bat of All-East selection Jeff Bercume of Merrimack who delivered a huge two RBI double. 

After both Marchesi and DiCato retired the respective sides in order in the first inning, the Merchants took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. UMass-Lowell cleanup man Taylor Von Kriegenberg led things off with a single down the left field line. Matt Russo pushed him to second on a nice play by Chiefs second baseman Mike Baillargeon who ranged far to his left to get him by half a step. Alex LiDonni then moved Von Kriegenberg to third with another infield grounder to JP Pollard at first. Von Kriegneberg completed his tour of the bases when he scored on a DiCato wild pitch to give the Merchants the lead. 

That run looked as if it may stand up as both pitchers tossed blanks over the next four innings. Marchesi surrendered a just second inning single to Bob McCarthy and third inning hits to Pollard and torrid Brendan Pyburn (double). In innings three through six, DiCato only allowed a single to Sam Choate in the third and a walk to Columbia outfielder Jason Banos in the fifth. 

The Chiefs finally broke through against Marchesi and won the game in the bottom of the sixth. Rookie Hal Landers (Wheaton) got things going with an opposite field single to left. Pyburn followed and after two unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempts, lined a single to right center with Landers stopping at second. Baillargeon, the second team all-American selection from Assumption, followed with a hard shot right at shortstop Josh Band (Rollins). Band knocked the liner down and recovered in time to force Pyburn at second with Landers taking third on the play. Bercume then provided the night’s biggest noise when he drilled a Marchesi pitch to deep left-center for a double, scoring both Landers and Pyburn and giving the Chiefs the lead. Bercume took third on the throw to the plate and that proved to be big when Justin Crisafulli gave DiCato an insurance run and a 3-1 lead when he plated Bercume with a sacrifice fly to left. 

DiCato got Von Kriengenberg to fly to Landers in right for the first out of the seventh. Russo was next and he reached on an infield single. DiCato then closed things out when he got LiDonni to bounce into a 4-6-3 doubleplay. 

With the complete game, eighty pitch outing, DiCato raised his season mark to 3-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.52. Marchesi (0-2), struck out four and allowed six hits. 

Chiefs Chatter….The Chiefs will send rookie right-hander Rob Machado to the mound to make his first ICL start when they travel to East Boston Stadium to meet the Bombers on Tuesday night at 8:00 PM. Machado worked three impressive innings in relief against the Americans on Friday. The former Malden Catholic star made two starts for UMass-Amherst this spring against UConn and Northeastern……Shortstop Brendan Pyburn of Merrimack has been on fire at the plate over the last week going 9 for his last 15, including a home run and three doubles. With the hot streak, the former Bishop Fenwick star has raised his average to a lofty .354….Catcher Bob “Bobo” McCarthy has moved into the ICL’s top five in the batting race, currently hitting an even .400 (16 for 40), and is currently enjoying a seven game hitting streak….Former Boston College star and Boston Red Sox farmhand Steve Langone made a nice grab of a Justin Crisafulli pop up in short right field in the second inning. The veteran second baseman is hitting .261 so far this season for the Merchants….Wakefield is off on Tuesday and hosts the Bombers at Walsh Field on Wednesday at 6:00 PM…Following Tuesday’s game at East Boston the Chiefs travel to Playstead Park in Medford on Wednesday at 6:00 PM before returning home to host the Mooney Dental Tanners on Thursday….The 2009 ICL all-star team is expected to be announced on Wednesday. The annual ICL-Boston Park League all-star game will be held this Sunday at Lexington starting at 2:00 PM…..     

Medford, MA- Lefty Dylan Ellis (Gloucester, MA/Merrimack) threw a complete game two-hitter and his mates supported him with nine hits as the Chiefs ended a three game skid with a 5-0 win over the Testa Corp. Bombers at Tufts University on Sunday afternoon. 

Ellis (2-0), was in command from start to finish as he struck out six and did not allow a Bombers base runner to get any further than second base.  

Ellis retired two Bombers hitters in the first inning before experiencing a little wildness and walking Josh Klimkiewicz and Nick Martinho in succession before getting Mike Adessa to pop up. 

The Chiefs took the lead in the home half of the first inning. Red hot Brendan Pyburn (7 for his last 11) got things going with an infield single off Bombers starter Mike Hashem. Mike Baillargeon flew to right for the first out and the Chiefs then executed a perfect hit and run with Jeff Bercume singling to right with Pyburn taking third. That paid immediate dividends when cleanup man Justin Crisafulli lofted a sacrifice fly to center scoring Pyburn.  

The Bombers got two more men on after two were out in the second when Steve Buitkus singled and Steve Wadsworth worked a walk. Ellis got tough and got Papa to pop up and Jay Defillippo to ground to Baillargeon at second base to end the inning. 

The Chiefs added three runs in the bottom of the second to jump the lead out to 4-0. Hashem got the first two outs of the inning before walking JP Pollard. Rookie Hal Landers then singled to right and Pyburn delivered his second single of the day, this time a RBI single to center that scored Pollard. Baillargeon followed and the he showed why he was the Northeast 10 Player of the Year this past spring when he uncorked a long triple to left center scoring Landers and Pyburn. 

Ellis worked a one-two-three third inning and the Chiefs gave him another run in the bottom of the frame. Catcher Bob McCarthy singled to right center and Mike Andre moved him to third with a long double to the 379” foot sign in right-center. Veteran Brian Macrina then delivered a sacrifice fly that plated McCarthy with the Chiefs fifth run of the afternoon. 

Ellis cruised through the fourth and allowed a single to Defillippo in the fifth. Hashem, the former UConn southpaw, settled down a bit and tossed a zero in the fourth and escaped a fifth inning jam.  

In the Chiefs fifth, Andre drew a full count, two out walk and Macrina singled to right-center. Peter Copa of UMass-Amherst came on to run for Andre but Hashem got Landers to ground sharply to second to end the threat. 

Ellis retired the heart of the Bombers order in succession in the top of the sixth. Suffolk University standout Dan Delia came on in relief of Hashem and worked a scoreless sixth. 

Buitkus reached on a throwing error by Copa to open the Testa seventh but was quickly erased at second on a Pyburn unassisted to Pollard doubleplay off the bat of Wadsworth. Papa then reached on Copa’s second miscue of the inning but Ellis ended the day when he got Defillippo to pop up to Baillargeon. 

With the win the Chiefs go to 7-4-1 on the year. Ellis lowered his ERA to 1.56 and picked up his eighth career win. 

Chiefs Chatter….Former UMass star Mike DiCato will take the mound in search of his third win of the season when the Chiefs host the Wakefield Merchants at Tufts on Monday at 6:00 PM…The Chiefs got some bad news in the pitching department when it was learned that Assumption righty Joe Martini will be lost for the remainder of the season with a labrum injury…..

Medford, MA- When a team makes four errors, issues seven free passes, uncorks two wild pitches, hits a couple of batters and leaves ten men on base, the results are typically not good. 

That formula held true to form for the reeling Chiefs on Friday night at Tufts University as they dropped their third straight game of the week, this time to the Medford Americans 11-5. 

The Chiefs out hit the Americans 11-6, fell behind 2-0, took a 4-2 lead before surrendering the lead for good when the Americans tallied four times in the fourth inning. 

Americans starter Kevin Hayes and his Chiefs counterpart Ryan McNeill both threw two scoreless innings before the Americans picked up a couple of runs in the top of the third. Two walks and a fielders choice set the stage for Luke Begley who drilled a hard one hop single just past shortstop Brendan Pyburn to give Medford a 2-0 lead. 

The Chiefs answered quickly in their half of the third inning to take a 4-2 lead. Dario Pizzano and Bob McCarthy both drew walks. Hayes was in obvious discomfort and had to leave the game with a blister. Pyburn greeted reliever Zach Bunszell rudely with a three run homer to right giving the Chiefs the lead at 3-2. After Justin Crisafulli flew to left, Mike Andre doubled into the right field corner. Peter Copa then singled to left center moving Andre to third. Americans manager Kevin Burgoyne then summoned veteran southpaw Orazio Azzarello from the bullpen to face lefty Hal Landers. Azzarello walked Landers and JP Pollard followed with a sacrifice fly to center that gave the Chiefs a two run lead. Azzarello then got Mike Barbati to ground to Begley at second leaving two runners stranded in scoring position. 

McNeill quickly surrendered the lead in the top of the fourth. He gave up a one out single to Dave Ahern then experienced control problems walking the next three batters in succession that forced in a run and cut the Chiefs lead to 4-3. Mike Ferriero was next and he drilled a long gap shot double to left center that cleared the bases to put the Americans back in front at 6-4. Rob Machado replaced McNeill on the mound and averted further trouble when he got Steve Tahmoush to ground out. 

Azzarello got the Chiefs in order in the bottom of the fourth and Machado held Medford scoreless in the fifth.  

The Chiefs picked up a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead tom 6-5 but let a golden opportunity go by the boards. Crisafulli singled to left and Andre followed with a line single to right. Lee Jamison came on to face Copa who reached on an infield single into the shortstop hole that loaded the bases with nobody out. Landers then grounded sharply to first with Crisafulli scoring and leaving runners at second and third. Pollard then hit a hard liner to Ferriero who was drawn in at shortstop. Ferriero knocked the ball down and threw Pollard out at first with the runners unable to advance. Lefty Matt Boleski then pinch hit for Barbati and Jamison got him swinging leaving two more men in scoring position.  

Machado was victimized by an unearned run in the sixth that jumped the Americans lead to 7-5 on a sacrifice fly from KC McCarthy.  

The Chiefs once again threatened in the bottom of the sixth but came up empty. McCarthy and Pyburn hit back to back one out singles and Andre drew a ten pitch walk to load the bases. Jamison then slammed the door on the Chiefs when he got Copa to pop up. 

The Americans reached Chris Foundas for four more runs in the top of seventh to put the game away with the big pop coming off the bat of McCarthy, who delivered a bases loaded triple.   

Lexington, MA- They could not be too sad to leave Lexington last night. 

For the second time in a row the Chiefs were blanked by the Blue Sox, this time to the tune of 11-0. On Monday, the Chiefs were shutout 3-0. 

This one was over early as the Sox got to Chiefs starter and loser Dan Lozeau for six runs on eight hits sending him to an early exit after just 1.1 innings of work.  

The Sox scored three times in the first inning on base hits from Dan Graham, Steve Gath, Ross Curley and Jeff Nolet. They added another three spot in the second when Anthony Santos, Ben Hewett, and again Graham and Gath, all recorded hits, sandwiched around a sacrifice fly from Pete Frates. Lefty Chris Labriola came on for Lozeau with one away and restored a bit of order getting the last two batters of the inning. 

The Sox bats kept coming and they roughed up Labriola for a couple of more runs in the third that jumped the lead to 8-zip. Four consecutive singles from Tom Haugh, Santos, Hewett and Frates, a Graham sacrifice fly and another Gath single and it was lights out for the Chiefs. 

Connor Bishop worked the fourth and the Sox lead went to 9-0 on a Nolet double, a walk and sacrifice fly by Dan Hughes. Matt Boleski, making his first mound appearance of the season, worked a scoreless fifth for the Chiefs and Chris Foundas came on to go in the sixth. Lexington wrapped up the scoring with a pair of runs off Foundas courtesy of an Anthony Coscia two RBI double. 

Steve Bodnar (3-0) picked up the win for the Blue Sox working the first five innings and scattering three hits. Curt Everett threw a scoreless sixth and Rollins College star Marc Hewett wrapped things up for the Sox in the seventh. 

Brendan Pyburn collected two doubles for the Chiefs and Bob McCarthy, Mike Andre, Dario Pizzano, Mike Barbati and Peter Copa (infield) all added singles as they were limited to seven hits. 

The Blue Sox are back in action on Friday hosting the Bombers at 8:00 PM and the Chiefs return to Tufts University and entertain the Americans in a 6:00 PM start.

Boston, MA- The annual Boston Park League vs. Intercity League All Star game will be held at Lexington High School on Sunday, July 19 at 2:00 PM.

For the last three years the game has been named in honor of umpire Joe Driscoll who passed away in 2007.

Rick DeAngelis, manager of the 2008 champions Blue Sox, will pilot the ICL squad.

The ICL's all-star team is expected to be announced next Tuesday.

Medford, MA- Dan Lozeau will get the starting assignment on Thursday night when the Chiefs make their second trip to Lexington in three days in an 8:00 PM rematch with the Blue Sox. 

Thursday’s game will begin a grueling seven games in eight day stretch leading up to the annual all-star game against the Boston Park League on Sunday, July 19. 

Lozeau, who recently concluded his twenty win Bryant University career, will be making his fourth start of the ICL season at Lexington.  

The Chiefs will enjoy some home cooking and open a three game homestand on Friday when they send all Northeast-10 selection Ryan McNeill to the hill to face the Americans at Tufts at 6:00 PM. Lefty Dylan Ellis is expected to get the starting nod on Sunday afternoon vs. the Bombers at 1:00 PM and Mike DiCato will close out the set when he faces the Wakefield Merchants on Monday at 6:00 PM.

The team hits the road next Tuesday to meet Testa Corp. on the field turf of East Boston Stadium and on Wednesday they travel to Playstead Park to visit the Americans before returning home to host the Tanners next Thursday.

Norwich, CT- The Massachusetts State Baseball All-Stars defeated the Connecticut State High School All-Stars, 3-2 on Sunday, June 28 at Dodd Stadium the home of the Connecticut Defenders, the Double A franchise of the San Francisco Giants. 

Chiefs rookie outfielder Dario Pizzano of Malden Cathoilc was named the “Most Valuable Player” for the Massachusetts team in the win. 

“We represented Massachusetts well, it was an excellent game for all nine innings and it went right down to the last out,” said Malden Catholic head baseball coach Steve Freker, who served as head coach of the Massachusetts Team. “Our Massachusetts guys were real excited about taking home the win. It’s been awhile since we beat Connecticut.” 

Pizzano, who was recently named as the Catholic Conference MVP and was widely considered the best high school player is the state this past spring, will be playing his college baseball at Columbia University. The Saugus, MA, native has appeared in five games for the Chiefs so far this season and has two hits in six plate appearances including a double and three RBI.

Lexington, MA- Mike DiCato was untouchable for the last four innings.

The bad news is that Matt Karis (4-0) was once again flawless for a full seven.

Such was the story in a first place showdown in Lexington on Monday night when Karis reached some rarified air and tossed his third consecutive ICL shutout on the way to chalking up his fourth straight decision in the Blue Sox 3-0 win over the Chiefs.

The right-hander out of Gettysburg College previously blanked the Medford Americans on June 16^th and 26^th and beat the Testa Corp. Bombers back on June 2^nd. So far this season the Southboro native has only allowed a stingy nine hits in 27.0 innings of work.

The Chiefs Mike DiCato certainly pitched well enough to win, allowing six hits and tossing zeros over the last four innings.

If you got there a bit late you missed all of the scoring in this one. In top of the first inning Karis got Brendan Pyburn swinging and catcher Bob McCarthy to pop up. Jeff Bercume followed with a line single to right but Karis picked him off first to end the inning.

The defending champs went right to work in the bottom of the inning scoring the only runs they would need. DiCato got Jack Laurendeau (Holy Cross) to ground to Mike Baillargeon at second. Former Boston College standout Pete Frates got things going for the Sox when he doubled into the right field corner. Danny Graham then singled to center scoring Frates and when Bercume’s throw to the plate went to backstop, Graham scampered all the way to third on the error. Steve Gath followed with a ground out to Pyburn at shortstop with Graham scoring on the play. DiCato got Sean McElroy to ground to Baillargeon to end the inning.

The Chiefs went quietly in the second and the Sox added their third and final run of the night in the bottom of the frame. Dan Haugh led things off with a tough hop single to center but DiCato picked him off first. Tom Haugh then worked a full count walk and Eric Polling (Greenville College/Pickneyville, IL) hit a soft grounder to Baillargeon pushing Haugh to second. Former UMass-Lowell star Anthony Santos then drilled a RBI single to left making it 3-0.

The Chiefs made a little noise in the third but could not score. Peter Copa reached on a throwing error and went to third on Hal Landers single to right. Pyburn then bounced into a 1-6-3 double play with Copa remaining at third. He was stranded there when McCarthy grounded out to Santos at second base.

DiCato reteird the Sox side in order in the third and Karis returned the favor in the top of the fourth. Gath walked to start the Lexington fourth but DiCato struck out McElroy and Dan Haugh in succession. Tom Haugh then lined a single to center and Bercume fired a strike to third baseman Mike Andre gunning down Gath trying to go to third to end the inning.

Veteran Brian Macrina reached on an error to start the fifth and Karis got Andre to fly out for the inning’s first out. Peter Copa grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

A two out Laurendeau single was all the Sox could muster against DiCato in the bottom of the fifth.

In the Chiefs sixth, McCarthy hit a two out ground ball just inside the third base bag (that was officially scored as a two base error) but Karis got Bercume to bounce out to end the inning.

Graham was hit by a DiCato pitch to begin the Sox sixth and was promptly thrown out by McCarthy trying to steal second. Gath grounded to Pyburn and DiCato struck out pinch hitter Matt McEvoy swinging to close the inning.

The Chiefs looked poised to finally break through against Karis in their final at bat. After Justin Crisafulli grounded out sharply to third both Baillargeon and Macrina drew walks. Andre then drilled the Chiefs hardest hit ball of the night to right-center field but the frustration continued when Frates had him played perfectly and gloved it for the second out. Karis completed his shutout trifecta when he got Copa to ground out to put an end to the night’s proceedings.

Karis struck out four and issued three walks while lowering his ERA to 1.30. DiCato, now 2-1, surrendered just the six hits while striking out five and walking a couple.

Dan Lozeau will get the start for the Chiefs on Tuesday when they travel to East Boston Stadium at 8:00 PM to face the Bombers.

Woburn, MA- Ryan McNeill went the first five innings to pick up the win and Rob Machado worked a perfect sixth and seventh as the two combined on a two-hit shutout of the Mooney Dental Tanners 16-0 at Ferullo Field in Woburn on Tuesday evening. 

McNeill, who claimed all Northeast-10 honors at Merrimack this spring, picked up his first ICL win in a Chiefs uniform yielding just a couple of singles while striking out six. Machado, the former Malden Catholic standout and current UMass-Amherst right-hander, retired all six batters he faced including one strikeout in his ICL debut. 

Catcher Bob McCarthy led the Chiefs 14 hit attack collecting four singles while Peter Copa and rookie Dario Pizzano chalked up three RBI apiece. 

The Chiefs scored early and often in this one, opening up a 9-0 lead after two innings. In the first inning, the Chiefs sent ten men to the plate and scored five times. Brendan Pyburn got things underway when he drew a walk from Tanners starter and loser Mike Nardelli. Pyburn promptly stole second and came around to score on McCarthy’s first single of the game. Jeff Bercume drew another walk but Nardelli struck out Hal Landers for the first out. Veteran Brian Macrina then gave the Chiefs a 2-0 lead when he delivered a RBI single that scored McCarthy. Mike Andre drew the inning’s third walk and Copa followed with a RBI fielder’s choice that plated Bercume. Pizzano made it 5-0 with a gap shot double to left-center scoring Macrina and Copa. 

It went to 9-0 in the second with the Chiefs scoring four times after two were out. Landers and Macrina both worked two out walks and Nardelli was lifted in favor of Joe Harvey. Andre greeted Harvey with a line single to right center that scored Landers. Copa followed with another single scoring Macrina and when Pizzano reached on an infield error scoring Andre and Copa, the Chiefs were out to a 9-0 lead. 

A Macrina RBI single in the third and a Copa double and sacrifice fly from Mike Barbati ran the lead to a dozen after four innings.  The Chiefs added four more to make it 15-0 in the fifth on singles by McCarthy and Pizzano sandwiched around two infield errors and two hit batsmen. The sixteenth and final run of the night came in the sixth on singles from Pyburn, Bercume and Matt Boleski.

Medford, MA- A late afternoon downpour put the final touch on another postponed game on Monday night. The postponement was the eighth of the year for the Chiefs and third time a game against the Lexington Blue Sox was forced to be called off.

The infield at Huskins Field was drying out during the day from Sunday night's rains. The downpour hit the area about 3:30 PM. Another bout of heavy showers hit the field shortly after 7:00 PM Monday evening as well.

Next up for the Chiefs is a 5:45 PM date with the Mooney Dental Tanners at Ferullo Field in Woburn on Tuesday.

The Chiefs were coming off a 9-7 win in Wakefield on Sunday. Dylan Ellis, Joe Martini, Chris Labriola and Chris Foundas all worked for the Chiefs with Foundas coming away with the win retiring all five batters he faced to close out the game.

Wakefield, MA- Horrendous defense, miserable early April like weather, and about as many fans as you could put in the backseat of a mid-size car.

Make no mistake about it, Cooperstown is not calling for a tape of this one!

Those were some of the components that came into play on Sunday afternoon at Walsh Field in Wakefield when the Chiefs somehow came away with a 9-7 win.

The Chiefs opened up a 6-1 lead and saw the Merchants come back to tie things up at 7-7 before putting up two seventh inning runs to grab the win.

The Chiefs jumped out to a 1-0 lead off Kevin Tidmarsh in the first inning on a two out RBI single from Hal Landers which scored Brendan Pyburn who led off with a single.

The Merchants came right back in the home half of the first on a Mike Sorrentino RBI single surrendered by Chiefs starter Dylan Ellis to tie it up at 1-1.

A two out error by the Merchants opened up the floodgates in the top of the second when the Chiefs scored five unearned runs. After two were out, Mike Barbati walked and Pyburn reached on the infield error. A Bob McCarthy single scored Barbati to make it 2-1. Jeff Bercume followed with a line shot single to right which scored Pyburn giving the Chiefs a 3-1 lead. Northeast-10 Player of the Year Mike Baillargeon made his presence felt when he lifted a long triple to the fence in left-center scoring McCarthy and Bercume to up the advantage to 5-1. Landers then delivered a line drive single to center pushing Baillargeon across and giving the Chiefs a 6-1 lead.

Ellis held Wakefield scoreless in the second and third innings, despite some shoddy defense, and Tidmarsh settled down and blanked the Chiefs in the third and fourth innings.

The Merchants sent ten men to the plate in the bottom of the fourth and scored four runs (two earned) to make it a one run game at 6-5.

Tidmarsh again got the Chiefs side in order in the top of the fifth and the Merchants tied the game up at 6-6 in the bottom of the inning. Assumption’s Joe Martini came on in relief of Ellis to start the inning and was victimized by another unearned run when Alex LiDonni and Josh Band both reached on errors.

The Chiefs regained the lead at 7-6 in the top of the sixth courtesy of a Pyburn double and another McCarthy RBI single.

The Merchants got another unearned gift from the Chiefs in the bottom of the sixth to re-tie the game at seven. Taylor Von Kriegenberg reached when Matt Boleski misplayed his fly ball to left. Southpaw Chris Labriola came on for Martini to face lefty Jason Roth. Roth sacrificed Von Kriegenberg to second before another lefty, Matt Russo, took a Labriola offering to deep left for a RBI triple.

Enter Chris Foundas. The ICL all-star closer in 2008 struck out Kevin Johnson swinging and got pinch hitter Sam Choate to ground out to Baillaegeon stranding Russo at third with the go ahead run.

Hal Landers led off the Chiefs seventh with a single to center and stole second. Mike Andre then lined a single to right with Landers stopping at third. Eddie McDonald pinch ran for Andre and with runners on the corners, reliever Kevin Flight got pinch hitter Bill Catlado swinging. Boleski then got a big chunk of redemption when he lined a Flight pitch to right scoring Landers. Barbati followed with a single up the middle that plated McDonald and gave the Chiefs a 9-7 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Foundas got LiDonni and Band to both pop to Pyburn at short and he put an end to the day’s follies when he got Steve Langone to fly to Bercume in centerfield.

With the win the Chiefs go to 5-1-1 on the season. They host the Lexington Blue Sox at Tufts University on Monday at 6:00 PM. Right-hander Ryan McNeill will draw the starting assignment for the Chiefs. 

Medford, MA- Bobby Giarratani twirled a complete game two-hitter and Mike Adessa drilled a two out, two run home run in the sixth inning as the Testa Corp. Bombers knocked off the Chiefs 5-0 at Tufts University on Friday evening. 

Giarratani, from Denison College in Ohio, took a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Brendan Pyburn broke up the bid with a single to right field. The Chiefs Dan Lozeau matched Giarratini pitch for pitch for 5.2 innings. Adessa finally broke the scoring drought with a sixth inning line shot over the right field wall scoring Nick Martinho, who had singled, ahead of him. 

The Chiefs had several chances to break into the scoring column, leaving runners in scoring position in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings. 

In the bottom of the second inning, J.P. Pollard drew a lead off walk and Giarratani got Hal Landers swinging for the first out. A Mike Barbati fielder’s choice moved Pollard to second and the Bombers Mike Navarro kept it a scoreless game when he ran down a deep Mike Andre line drive to straightaway right to end the inning. 

The defensive gems continued for the Bombers in the bottom of the third. Catcher Eddie McDonald reached on Testa’s only error of the night on a slow hit ball that was mishandled by shortstop Joe Papa. McDonald went to second on a passed ball but Giarratani got Pyburn to bounce back to him for the first out. Brian Macrina followed with a ten pitch at bat then ended when Giarratani finally got him swinging on a 3-2 pitch. Jeff Bercume looked like he was about to give the Chiefs the lead when he hit a hard one hopper to the right of first baseman Josh Klimkiewicz. The former Harvard star made a nice diving stop and recovered quickly enough to flip to Giarratani covering first to get the fleet Bercume by half a step. 

Another Chiefs scoring opportunity went by the boards in the fourth when Landers drew a two out walk, stole second, but couldn’t get any further as Giarratani again got tough and caught Barbati looking at a third strike. 

The Chiefs got a defensive gem of their own in the top of the fifth when Brian Macrina made a spectacular diving grab of Steve Buikus line drive with Paul Bonfiglio, who had walked and went to second on a sacrifice bunt, in scoring position. 

The Chiefs were poised to take the lead again in the fifth when Pyburn broke up the no-hitter with a two out single and proceeded to steal second. A Macrina fly ball to center ended the inning and the teams went into the sixth at 0-0.  

Addesa’s shot in the top of the sixth came with two outs. The inning started well enough for Lozeau when he struck out Navarro swinging. Martinho followed with a single and Lozeau got the dangerous Klimkiewicz to fly to Landers in right. Adessa caught up with a Lozeau fastball and provided instant offense for the Bombers and a 2-0 lead. 

Bercume’s chalk raising double down the right field line was all the Chiefs could muster against Giarratani in the sixth and Chris Foundas came on for Lozeau, his former Bryant University teammate, to work the top of seventh. 

A throwing error by Copa at third, a hit batsman, two walks, a wild pitch and a Klimkiewicz single, added up to three unearned runs off Foundas and 5-0 Bombers lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. 

Giarratani made quick work of the Chiefs in the seventh. He got Matt Boleski, who was pinch hitting for Barbati, to groundout, Andre to fly to center and ended things when he got pinch hitter Phil Costello looking. 

Giarratani struck out seven and surrendered three walks on the way to picking up his first win of the year. Lozeau, who suffered his first loss, pitched very well for the Chiefs giving up just three hits and recording a couple of strikeouts. 

The Chiefs begin a three game pre-Fourth of July stretch on Sunday at Walsh Field in Wakefield at 3:00 PM. Lefty Dylan Ellis (1-0) is expected to start for the Chiefs.       

Medford, MA- After eight days the rain finally stopped.

Chiefs righty Mike DiCato never did.

The former UMass-Amherst and Malden Catholic star was nearly flawless once again, picking up his second straight win, as the Chiefs turned back the Wakefield Merchants 4-2 at Huskins Field on Thursday evening.

DiCato tossed zeros at the Merchants until the seventh when the visitors finally broke through for a couple of runs after the Chiefs had already opened up a 4-0 lead.

Wakefield threatened to grab an early lead in the first inning.  Rollins College's Josh Band led off with a single to center and the Merchants appeared to be in business when former Red Sox farmhand Steve Langone singled sharply past Peter Copa at third. Northeastern's Jason Roth was next and drove a ball that was earmarked for the right-centerfield gap. Wheaton rookie Hal Landers had other ideas as he got on his horse and made a nice back to plate grab with Band tagging and going to third on the play. DiCato then came up huge striking out UMass Lowell star Taylor Von Kriegenberg looking and ICL all-star catcher Mike Sorrentino swinging.

Trinity lefty James Ramsey got two outs in the bottom of the first inning before running into a bit of trouble when Jeff Bercume and Justin Crisafulli both reached on miscues. Ramsey escaped when he got Brian Macrina to ground to Alex LiDonni at third base ending the threat.

DiCato and Ramsey matched zeros in the second before the Chiefs broke through to take a 1-0 lead in the third. Shortstop Brendan Pyburn led off with a solid single to center. Ramsey got Bob McCarthy to fly to left and Bercume followed with the first of his three consecutive singles, this one a line shot to center. Sorrentino's errant attempt to pick Bercume off first base went into short right allowing Pyburn to scamper to third. Crisafulli's RBI fielder's choice then scored Pyburn for the game's first run. Ramsey caught Macrina looking to end the inning keeping it a one run game.

DiCato went into cruise control retiring the Merchants side in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings before the Chiefs gave him a little breathing room with three fifth inning runs. Pyburn drew a walk to get things started and a McCarthy sharp single to center moved him to second. Bercume then dropped a perfect bunt single to load them up for Crisafulli. The Chiefs all time RBI leader added two more to his career total of 370 when he drilled an opposite field single to right scoring both Pyburn and McCarthy that jumped the lead to 3-0. Dario Pizzano came on to run for Crisafulli and righty Kevin Flight relieved Ramsey for the Merchants. Flight threw Macrina's grounder wide of first allowing Bercume to score the Chiefs fourth run. J.P. Pollard flew to left for the inning's first out and Copa drew a walk to load the bases. Flight escaped more trouble when he got Landers swinging and pinch hitter Mike Andre, who was making his first appearance of the season on the road back from knee surgery, to ground to Langone at second.

The Merchants spoiled DiCato's shutout bid in the seventh. Von Kriegenberg led off and beat out an infield single up the middle. Sorrentino then gave the Merchants their biggest bang of the night when he drilled a double past the diving Bercume in center sending Von Kriengenberg to third. Kevin Johnson got the Merchants on the board with a RBI grounder to Pollard at first scoring Von Kriengenberg. LiDonni then grounded to Andre at third base for the second out with Sorrentino scoring on play. DiCato ended the proceedings in style when he struck out pinch hitter John D'Angelo swinging.

DiCato allowed five hits, struck out five and issued one walk. With the complete game 84 pitch outing, the Winthrop, MA native raised his record to 2-0 on the season. Ramsey suffered the loss for Wakefield and fell to 0-2. 

The Chiefs are right back in action on Friday at 6:00 PM when they host the Testa Corp. Bombers at Tufts University with Dan Lozeau drawing the starting nod. The Bombers got a complete game three hitter from Mike Hashem and defeated the Medford Americans 3-1 under the lights East Boston Stadium on Thursday night.

Wakefield
                                    IP      H     R      ER      BB      SO 
J. Ramsey L,(0-2)          4.0     8     4        3         2         3  
K. Flight                       2.0     1     0        0         1         2
Chiefs
Mike DiCato W, (2-0)    7.0      5     2        2         1         5

Medford, MA- Wednesday's scheduled game between the Chiefs and Americans at Playstead Park has been postponed. No ICL games have been played since last Wednesday when the recent bout of wet weather began.

The Chiefs and Americans were also rained out last Thursday. Both games are now being scheduled for the first week of August.

The Chiefs hope to get back to some baseball on Thursday evening when they are slated to host the Wakefield Merchants at Tufts University at 6:00 PM. On Friday, the Chiefs stay at home for another 6:00 PM start against the Testa Corp. Bombers before heading up to Walsh Field in Wakefield on Sunday afternoon for a re-match with the Merchants in an earlier than usual 3:00 PM start.

Prior to the traditional Fourth of July Break, the Chiefs will host the Lexington Blue Sox on Monday at 6:00 PM and then travel to Ferullo Field in Woburn to visit Mooney Dental on Tuesday, June 30 at 5:45 PM.

By Bruce Hack
Concord, MA – Week two of the Intercity Baseball League had first place Medford lose twice and still hold on to first place. Mooney won its first two games and moved into a tie for fourth. The Mooney wins helped two players earn Player and Pitcher of the week honors.

Players of the Week – Helping his team win its first two games of the season earned Mooney catcher Matt Fiore (Wakefield/WPI) Player of the Week honors. In three games he went 5-for-10 with four RBI and two runs scored. He drove in three runs, including the two that gave Mooney the lead for good at 8-7, in Mooney’s 10-9 win at Lexington.
Sharing Player of the Week honors is Medford’s Steve Tahmoush (Arlington/Babson). In four games he banged out six hits, scored four runs, drove in three and stole three bases as the Americans stayed in first place despite going 2-2.

Pitchers of the Week – Mooney went 2-1 for the week and Dan Blum (Arlington/Dean) had a hand in both victories getting the win and a save in two relief appearances. He pitched the final three innings in the 10-9 win at Lexington. He then pitched the last two innings in the 7-6 win at Wakefield to earn the save. In his two games he pitched five innings, allowed seven hits, three runs, two earned, walked one and struck out three.
Sharing Pitcher of the Week honors is Andre’s Dan Lozeau (Pelham, NH/Bryant). The righty tossed a complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win against first place Medford. He retired the last 17 batters of the game, scattering three hits, walking none and striking out four.

Rookie of the Week – Mike Ferriero (Chelmsford, MA/Bentley College) kept the Medford Americans in first place with his play at the plate and in the field. The good fielding shortstop has made only one error in 24 chances this season. At the plate in four games he hit .417 (5-12) with three runs, an RBI and a stolen base. He hit safely in all four games.

Lexington, MA- The unusually soogy June weather has claimed another ICL game. 

Monday’s Chiefs at Blue Sox game scheduled for Lexington High School at 8:00 PM has been postponed. 

“We inspected the field this morning and it was very wet”, said Lexington Manager Rick DeAngelis. “A short time later we were notified that the town of Lexington’s Department of Public Works had decided to close all of the fields today”, he added. 

It was decided to postpone the game shortly after 10:00 AM this morning. The game has been re-scheduled for Tuesday, August 4^th in Lexington.  

Eighteen ICL games have already been postponed so far in June. The Chiefs have had seven postponements this month including Sunday’s non-league game in Lunenburg.

Lunenburg, MA- The Chiefs at Lunenburg Phillies non-league game scheduled for Sunday has been postponed. The postponement marks the fifth time that the Chiefs have fallen victim to the wet weather this season.

The decison to postpone the game was made shortly after 9:00 PM on Saturday night. Rain is forecast throughout the day in Lunenburg. The Phillies did get their Saturday evening game in ahead of the rain, beating the Central Mass. Expos 5-1 at Marshall Park.

Weather permitting, the Chiefs are scheduled to travel to Lexington on Monday night at 8:00 PM to meet the Blue Sox. Next up for the Phillies is Worcester who they host at Marshall Park also on Monday at 6:00 PM.

The Phillies and Chiefs are working on a make-up date which should be announced early next week.

Medford, MA- If you blinked you probably missed it. 

In one of the most rapidly played ICL games in history, the Chiefs battled back from a 2-0 deficit with two seventh inning runs, courtesy of a Jeff Bercume two out, two RBI single, to tie up the Wakefield Merchants 2-2 at Tufts University. 

The game took a brief one hour and twelve minutes to complete.  

The two main components that contributed to the swiftness of the game were former Chicago Cubs farmhand Steve Coffey and Bryant University’s career twenty game winner Dan Lozeau. Coffey and Lozeau threw nothing but strikes with both surrendering just four hits. Coffey did not issue a walk or record a strikeout while Lozeau allowed one free pass and struck out four Merchants. 

Coffey took a one-hitter into the bottom of the seventh before the Chiefs bats came alive just in time to pick up a point in the standings. The ICL veteran had only allowed two base runners in the first 6.1 innings, J.P. Pollard who reached on Wakefield’s only miscue of the night in the first and was subsequently thrown out trying to steal second and Bob McCarthy's bloop single to left in the third.  

Wakefield struck first in the top half of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Taylor Von Kriengenberg led off with a single and catcher Mike Sorrentino followed with a hard grounder to third baseman Peter Copa. Copa made a nice play going to his right to glove the ball but his throw to first was high allowing Von Kriengenberg to take third with Sorrentino ending up at second. With both runners in scoring position, Lozeau recorded a big first out when he got veteran Dana D’Agostino swinging. Dan Mello was next up and he hit a ground ball that deflected off Lozeau’s glove to second baseman Mike Barbati. Barbati’s only play was to first base, throwing out Mello by a step with Von Kriengenberg scoring. 

The Merchants lead went to 2-0 in the fourth inning. With two outs, Sorrentino drew Lozeau’s only walk of the night and scored from first on D’Agostino’s gap shot double to the fence in left center.

Coffey meanwhile was cruising right along facing only one batter over the minimum until there was one out in the seventh. In the Chiefs last at bat, Coffey got out number one when McCarthy bounced to Mello at second. Pollard then kept the Chiefs hopes alive when he drilled a clean single up the middle. Cleanup man Justin Crisafulli followed with a long single off the base of the wall in right that sent Pollard to third. Eddie McDonald then came on to pinch run for Crisafulli. Coffey then hit Copa with a 1-2 pitch loading the bases for Bercume. The sweet swinging all East selection from Merrimack College then delivered both Pollard and McDonald with a single to right center knotting the game at two. The Chiefs had a chance to win it with Copa in scoring position but Coffey preserved the tie when he got Barbati to ground to Alex LiDonni at third to end the game.

With the deadlock, the Chiefs stay unbeaten in ICL play (3-0-1, 4-0-1 overall) and the Merchants go to 2-3-1. Next up for the Chiefs is a date with the Medford Americans on Thursday at 6:00 PM at Tufts University.  

Tue, 16 June, 6:00PM, at Tufts University Merchants 2, Chiefs 2 Final 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Wakefield Merchants 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 4 1 Andre Chiefs 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 1   Wakefield AB R H RBI BB SO   Alex LiDonni, 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0   Kevin Johnson, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0   Jason Roth, 1b 3 0 1 0 0 1   T. von Kriegenbergh, rf 3 1 2 0 0 0   Mike Sorrentino, c 2 1 0 0 1 0   Dana D'Agastino, lf 3 0 1 1 0 1   Dan Mello, 2b 3 0 0 1 0 0   John Davison, dh 3 0 0 0 0 0   Sam Choate, cf 3 0 0 0 0 2   Totals 26 2 4 2 1 4     2B: Dana D'Agastino RBI: Dana D'Agastino, Dan Mello E: Alex LiDonni Chiefs AB R H RBI BB SO   Brendan Pyburn, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0   Bob McCarthy, c 3 0 1 0 0 0   Jonathan Pollard, 1b 3 1 1 0 0 0   Justin Crisafulli, dh 3 0 1 0 0 0      Eddie McDonald, pr 0 1 0 0 0 0   Pete Copa, 3b 2 0 0 0 0 0   Brian Macrina, lf 3 0 0 0 0 0   Kevin McKenzie, rf 0 0 0 0 0 0      Jeff Bercume, cf  3 0 1 2 0 0   Mike  Barbati, 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0   Matt Boleski, cf, rf 2 0 0 0 0 0   Totals 25 2 4 2 0 0     RBI: Jeff Bercume 2 E: Pete Copa Wakefield IP H R ER BB SO   Steve Coffey 7 2 2 2 0 0     Chiefs IP H R ER BB SO   Dan Lozeau  7  4  2 1 1 4     Weather: Sunny Time: 1:12