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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.   

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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.   

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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.

 

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ICL Beats Boston Park League 10-9

Posted by Chiefs Baseball at Jul 19, 2009 5:00PM PDT ( 0 Comments )

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
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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.

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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.  

 

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