Reading Bulldogs

 By Jeff Pierce  Daily Times Chronicle

Reading vs. Andre Chiefs 7/15/12 at Morton Field 

Andre (0) – Bercume 3-1, Deshler 2-0, Baillargeon 3-0, Andre 3-0, DiCato 2-0, Boleski 3-0, Barbati 1-0, Yanakopoulos 3-0, Leva 2-0,Totals 22-1 

Reading (4) – Hartwell 4-2, Cataldo 2-1, Talis 2-1, Taylor 4-1,  Fischer 1-0, Castoldi 4-0, Bishop 3-1, Buitkus 1-1, Flutie 3-1, Totals 24-8 

Home Run- Taylor 

WP-   O’Neil  LP-    Matt Dicato

 Andre          0000000 -0

Reading      000211X -4  

Wrap: 

The Bulldogs earned a much needed win on Sunday evening against the Andre Chiefs behind the one hit pitching of Brian O’Neil, by a score of 4-0. The Bulldogs had only beaten the Chiefs one time in their three year history going into a game that was critical for their playoff aspirations. In their prior meeting in June the match-up ended up in a nine inning tie, in a game that featured numerous Bulldog opportunities to win the game in the latter innings. “Our record is .500 which is a true indication of the type of team we have been”, said Matt Morrison, “after a very deflating loss on Friday night there was no doubt in my mind that we were capable of turning it around against one of the top teams in the league”. The North Reading native and former Bryant University pitcher O’Neil received the assignment after a 15 day layoff and he had his best command of the season. O’Neil allowed one hit off the glove a diving infielder and issued just two walks, and had a hit batter. “Brian was a Division I collegiate pitcher, he can dominate and tonight he put together his usual hard fastball with great command, he made it a quick outing for us”, said Morrison. The Bulldogs got all they needed for runs in the fourth inning. Andrew Bishop had a one out single followed by hits from Steve Buitkus and Doug Flutie.  From their Darren Hartwell knocked in two with a single through the box giving Reading a 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs added insurance late with Mike Taylor’s moon shot home run to right field, and then threatened for more with two on but the 48 year old Flutie’s 350 ft line drive was tracked down on the warning track. A small threat by Andre in the last inning, against reliever Brian Pedrotti , was ended with a foul pop to the catcher Matt Zajac to end the game. Going into the last two weeks of the regular season the Bulldogs have the toughest part of their schedule ahead and are still in the battle for seeds 4 through 8. “After five games in eight days we have a light week so its much needed for our pitchers and hopefully we start stringing some wins together rather then our season long trend of win one lose one” said Morrison.