Andre Chiefs

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.