Announcement

Chiefs Roll on to Semifinals with 13-1 Win over Alibrandis

Posted by Chiefs Baseball on Aug 12 2021 at 04:16AM PDT
image

By Bruce Hack
Lexington, MA – The Andre Chiefs advanced to the ICL semifinals with a 13-1 win over Alibrandis Wednesday night at Lexington High School.

The fifth seeded Chiefs defeated sixth seed Reading Tuesday night 6-1 and then beat the fourth seeded Alibrandis. The Chiefs will next take on top seeded Lexington Thursday night in Lexington at 8:00 P.M.

Andre put the game away with a six run second inning. Nate Witkowski singled with the bases loaded to drive in the first two runs of the frame. After a walk and hit batter, Alibrandis starter Jared Brooks was replaced on the mound by Anthony Delprete. The Chiefs added three more runs on a sacrifice fly by Nick Valdario and RBI singles by Adam Johnson and Joe Bova.

Evan Walsh (pictured left) was the beneficiary of the Chiefs offense. The southpaw was 0-5 in the regular season put together his best outing of 2021. He gave up three hits, walked three and struck out six. Though he only had one 1-2-3 inning, Walsh stranded six runners and only allowed two base runners in one inning. The victory was the second postseason career win for Walsh.

Gordie Gronkowski supplied the lone Alibrandis run with a long home run to left in the sixth inning. It was his first postseason home run in the Intercity League.

Valdario was 4-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored for the Chiefs. Johnson drove in 3 runs on two singles and an infield out. Witkowski had 3 hits, 2 RBI and Bova had 2 RBI. Miles Reid and Ryan Noone each scored 3 runs. Reid and Noone each had one hit, while Reid had two walks and stole home on the back end of a double steal. Noone reached base on a hit by pitch and an error.

Kyle Halloran had two hits for Alibrandis.

The 13 runs was the most the Chiefs scored since they scored 15 in a 16-15 loss to Lexington on August 23, 2015. On August 12, 2015 the Chiefs defeated Arlington 13-1. For Alibrandis the 13 runs is the most they have allowed in an ICL postseason game since joining the league in 2018. This was the quickest exit for Alibrandis in the playoffs. In 2018 they lost to Lexington in the semifinals. In 2019 they lost to Lexington in the finals. Alibrandis is now 7-9 in three postseasons in the ICL.