Andre Chiefs

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.

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.   

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- 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.