Andre Chiefs

Medford, MA- If you blinked you probably missed it. 

In one of the most rapidly played ICL games in history, the Chiefs battled back from a 2-0 deficit with two seventh inning runs, courtesy of a Jeff Bercume two out, two RBI single, to tie up the Wakefield Merchants 2-2 at Tufts University. 

The game took a brief one hour and twelve minutes to complete.  

The two main components that contributed to the swiftness of the game were former Chicago Cubs farmhand Steve Coffey and Bryant University’s career twenty game winner Dan Lozeau. Coffey and Lozeau threw nothing but strikes with both surrendering just four hits. Coffey did not issue a walk or record a strikeout while Lozeau allowed one free pass and struck out four Merchants. 

Coffey took a one-hitter into the bottom of the seventh before the Chiefs bats came alive just in time to pick up a point in the standings. The ICL veteran had only allowed two base runners in the first 6.1 innings, J.P. Pollard who reached on Wakefield’s only miscue of the night in the first and was subsequently thrown out trying to steal second and Bob McCarthy's bloop single to left in the third.  

Wakefield struck first in the top half of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. Taylor Von Kriengenberg led off with a single and catcher Mike Sorrentino followed with a hard grounder to third baseman Peter Copa. Copa made a nice play going to his right to glove the ball but his throw to first was high allowing Von Kriengenberg to take third with Sorrentino ending up at second. With both runners in scoring position, Lozeau recorded a big first out when he got veteran Dana D’Agostino swinging. Dan Mello was next up and he hit a ground ball that deflected off Lozeau’s glove to second baseman Mike Barbati. Barbati’s only play was to first base, throwing out Mello by a step with Von Kriengenberg scoring. 

The Merchants lead went to 2-0 in the fourth inning. With two outs, Sorrentino drew Lozeau’s only walk of the night and scored from first on D’Agostino’s gap shot double to the fence in left center.

Coffey meanwhile was cruising right along facing only one batter over the minimum until there was one out in the seventh. In the Chiefs last at bat, Coffey got out number one when McCarthy bounced to Mello at second. Pollard then kept the Chiefs hopes alive when he drilled a clean single up the middle. Cleanup man Justin Crisafulli followed with a long single off the base of the wall in right that sent Pollard to third. Eddie McDonald then came on to pinch run for Crisafulli. Coffey then hit Copa with a 1-2 pitch loading the bases for Bercume. The sweet swinging all East selection from Merrimack College then delivered both Pollard and McDonald with a single to right center knotting the game at two. The Chiefs had a chance to win it with Copa in scoring position but Coffey preserved the tie when he got Barbati to ground to Alex LiDonni at third to end the game.

With the deadlock, the Chiefs stay unbeaten in ICL play (3-0-1, 4-0-1 overall) and the Merchants go to 2-3-1. Next up for the Chiefs is a date with the Medford Americans on Thursday at 6:00 PM at Tufts University.