Andre Chiefs

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**