Announcement
Chiefs Suffer Game One Setback to Bombers, 7-4
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.
The Chiefs started what appeared to be a potentially huge comeback in the seventh only to see the attempt fizzle out. Macrina got things started with a gap shot triple to right-center. McCarthy then drilled a single to left that scored Macrina cutting the lead to 7-4. Dario Pizzano pinch hit for Landers and solidly singled to right. Pyburn followed with another single to left-center that loaded the bases with nobody out and brought the winning run to the plate in Baillargeon. Baillargeon hit a hard shot right back at Giarrantani who made a nice grab and turned it into a tailor made 1-2-3 doubleplay. The Chiefs still weren’t done. Bercume, who was representing the game tying run, brought the faithful to their feet when he sent a deep line shot that appeared headed for the right field corner. It was just not to be on this night as Buitkus made a nice running catch on the warning track that ended the game and sent the Bombers back to Eastie with a game lead and home field advantage in the series.Chiefs Chatter......The Chiefs out hit the Bombers 9-7 in Friday's game.…...The Medford Americans came from behind to beat the Wakefield Merchants 6-5 in eight innings to take the deciding game of their best of three series in walk-off fashion. Luke Begley scored the winning run on an infield error with the bases juiced. Brian Casey went the route to pick up his first playoff win. ……Congratulations go out to Americans veteran skipper Kevin Burgoyne who picked up the first playoff win of his ICL career on Tuesday night and then made his initial playoff series a winning one…...The Americans will open their semi-final series with the Lexington Blue Sox on Sunday night at 8:00 PM in Lexington….. Game Two of the Chiefs-Bombers series will be played at 4:00 PM on Sunday at East Boston Stadium. The game was originally scheduled to be played at noon but was changed to the later starting time…...The Chiefs will send left-hander Dylan Ellis to the mound while the Bombers are expected to counter with Eddie Donovan…..Chiefs Hall of Famers Dave Clvio and Hank Landers were in the crowd for Friday’s series opener at Huskins .......J.P. Pollard was nursing a severely bruised foot and is day to day…..Jeff Bercume swiped his 15th base of the year in 18 attempts in the first inning…....Bercume’s former college teammate at Merrimack, Steve Buitkus, made an outstanding catch of his deep line drive that ended the game….Bobby Giarrantani surrendered nine hits and did not strike out a batter in the win. The former Bishop Fenwick star plays his college ball at Denison College in Ohio…Several Chiefs continue their climb up the all-time career leaders list. Justin Crisafulli, who tops the charts in home runs (86) and RBI (379), has inched a little closer to Mike Langston as the all-time hit leader. Crisafulli, with his two hits in Game One, now has 486 and trails Langston (538) by 52. Crisafulli began his Chiefs career as a rookie in 1994 before signing with the Cleveland Indians……Veteran Brian Macrina passed Alex Masel last week and now stands in eighth position in career hits with 215. Macrina is currently ninth in career homers with nine and holds position twelve in RBI with 76….Mike Andre, who hit his first post-season home run on Friday, has moved into slot 16 in career RBI with 60 and recently eclipsed Steve Puleo sliding into 17th place in career hits with 104. The former ICL Rookie of the Year in 2006 and two-time ICL all-star continues to make progress from knee surgery in May and raised his overall 2009 average to .309 on Friday night…..In the pitching department, Chris Foundas moved into the sixth spot in career appearances when he took the mound for the 35th time on Friday….Mike DiCato moved into the top dozen in career strikeouts (62) going past Dave Piho of Berlin, PA….The Chiefs have lost the first game of a semi-final series eleven times in franchise history. On eight of those occasions they came back to win the series. In 1968, 1971, 1974, 1980, 1990 & 1993 they came back to win a semi-final series after losing the first two games……Manager Chuck Andre will be shooting for playoff win number 50 on Sunday. The veteran manager had amassed 438 overall wins heading into this year’s playoffs……Monday’s Game Three is still listed as TBA, but barring an unexpected scheduling change to a field with lights, the game is most likely to be played at Tufts University at 5:20 PM…. Bruce Tillman
