Andre Chiefs

By Bruce Hack Lexington Blue Sox Director of Media Relations WAKEFIELD – All-Star games feature the best of the best and fans expect to see exceptional performances. The fans who witnessed the best of the Boston Park League square off against the best of the Intercity League at Wakefield on Sunday afternoon were not disappointed as the host Intercity team came away with a 4-1 win. In the renewal of an annual summer event, the ICL players used timely hitting, quality pitching and great defense to come away with the win over their brethren from the city. The Intercity League struck first in the bottom of the second. With one out Dan Powers (Lexington/Holy Cross) walked. After a fly out he moved to second on John Welch’s (Medford/St. Anselm) single. Powers scored when Lexington teammate Eric Poling (Greenville College) singled to center and the home team was up 1-0. The hosts, who were guided by Lexington manager Rick DeAngelis, scored again in the third when Lexington leadoff hitter Jake Dillard (Southwestern Oklahoma) doubled down the leftfield line and went to third on a throwing error by Jamie Dahill (Irish Village/St. Anselm). After an infield out held Dillard at third, Josh Klimkiewicz (Cassell/Harvard), second in the ICL with 19 RBI, drove in Dillard on a ground out to first. Both teams had runners on in every inning until the Park League’s Jay Turner (Stockyard/UMass-Boston) turned in a 1-2-3 fourth inning for his manager, Steve Busby who managed the BLP team. The Intercity League’s Aram Manoukian (Watertown/Bentley) followed Turner’s lead and set down the Park League in order in the fifth including striking out of Bill Andruskevich (Towne Club/Holy Cross). Both starting shortstops showed their defensive talent early in the game. The BPL Dorian Rojas (Carlson Club/Cumberland) made a great stop and tossed out Klimkiewicz at second in the first inning. Zach Golden (Cassell/Brandeis) stretched to take a throw from Klimkiewicz and get a force out at second. Great defense was not limited to the shortstops. Derek Cotoni (Gately/Bridgeport) helped himself in the sixth when he turned a line drive off the bat of Jim Pierce (ADSL/Thomas) into a double play. The Intercity League scored its final two runs in the sixth when they loaded the bases. Jamie Gath (Gately/Bentley) reached on catcher’s interference and consecutive singles by Jeff Paquette (Cassell/Fitchburg St.) and Dan Hughes (Lexington/Brown) put three ICL players on with no outs. After a strikeout, Mike Andre (Andre Chiefs/Merrimack) drove in Gath with a deep drive to right for a sacrifice fly. Paquette scored the fourth run when he came home on a passed ball. Solid pitching by the Intercity League kept the Park League off the scoreboard until the ninth. The eight hurlers scattered five hits, walked one and struck out five. Lexington’s Ben Simon (Providence, RI/Tufts), 2-1 with a 0.41 ERA, earned the win by pitching the second inning and striking out two. The Park League broke through in the ninth when Evan Tardugno (Stockyard/UMass-Boston) reached on an error to start off the inning. A. J. Turner (Mass Envelope/Eastern Nazarene) had his second hit of the game, the only player to get two hits in the game, to put runners at first and third. Turner stole second putting both runners in scoring position. Tardugno scored on Matt Moyen’s (Mass Envelope/Wentworth) infield out to make it 4-1. Jim Pierce hit a sinking line drive o center that Tim Dempsey (Cassell/UMass-Lowell) made the catch on and then threw a perfect strike to catcher Matt Fiore (Mooney Dental/WPI) to retire Turner at the plate and end the game. Pierce had two at bats in the game and made four outs hitting into double plays both times up. Both teams had outstanding plays and players, but two were recognized as “best-of-the best”. For the Park League A. J. Turner earned outstanding hitter as he went 2-for-2. The Intercity League’s Jake Dillard earned the same award for his league. Dillard had a double, the only extra-base hit of the game, and scored a run. Medford Based Players Shine in ICL All-Star Game All-Stars representing the Andre Chiefs and the Medford Americans performed very well in Sunday’s Intercity League’s win over the Boston Park League at Wakefield. Medford Americans John Welch (Medford/St. Anselm) and Ryan Maguire (Arlington/Marist) both had singles for the ICL. Lefty Jeff Keefe (Arlington/St. Anselm), who had a no-hitter earlier this year, pitched a scoreless fourth inning. Chiefs third baseman Mike Andre (Medford/Merrimack) hit the longest ball of the day, a long RBI sacrifice fly to deep right, that scored the Intercity League’s third run in the sixth inning. Welch moved into second place in the ICL home run category when he hit his third of the season against Woburn on Saturday in the Americans 7-1 win at Ferullo Field. He is hitting .278 with eight RBI’s on the season. Andre moved into the third spot last week in the ICL’s batting race, raising his average to a lofty .424, (25 for 59) with one home run. His 12 RBI’s put him in fifth place among the league leaders in that department. ICL All-Stars 4, Boston Park League 1 (July 23, 2006 at Wakefield, MA) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Boston Park League.. 000 000 001 - 1 5 2 ICL All-Stars....... 011 002 00X - 4 7 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Pitchers: Boston Park League - R. Mercado; F. Emery(2); M. McDonough(3); J. Turner(4); E. Tardugno(5); M. Regan(6); J. Collins(7); J. Blandino(8) and A. Terista, A. Collins (5). ICL All-Stars - B. Cooke; B. Simon(2); D. Martin(3); J. Keefe(4); A. Manoukian(5); D. Cotoni(6); T. Dunphy(7); B. Shapiro(9) and E. Poling; M. Sorrentino (4); M. Fiore (7). Win-B. Simon(1-0) Loss-F. Emery(0-1) T-1:55 A-206