Andre Chiefs

Medford- There is no doubt Mike Coppinger can pitch.

Did you know that Mike DiCato can play shortstop?

Or that Jimmy Buldini can play secondbase?

The afirmative answer to the two questions above and a completely revamped Chiefs lineup, forced by a host of injuries, led to a 5-0 win at Playstead Park on Tuesday night.

With no less than three starters out of the lineup (SS-Rich Montecalvo, 2B-Doug Heald and CF-Brian Macrina) the Chiefs put together their best overall game in weeks led by Coppinger's complete game four hitter.

The Chiefs took a 1-0 lead in the second off of Woburn starter and former Arlington High star Joe Curran. He hit his former AHS batterymate Sean O'Brien with a pitch but O'B was forced at second on an attemped sacrifice from Buldini. Matt Boleski struck out swinging but Buldini advanced to second on a wild pitch. DH Ryan Sheehan (Assumption, Lynnfield, MA) then delivered Buldini with a line single to right.

Coppinger (Merrimack, Medway, MA) stranded Woburn runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and fifth innings before his mates gave him a little breathing room in the bottom of the fifth.

DiCato flew to deep center for the first out. Phil Costello then walked and Mike Andre followed with a line single to center. Woburn manager Bob DiNapoli then chose to lift Curran in favor of southpaw Matt Boylan. Cleanup man Justin Crisafulli greeted Boylan with a sharp single to left to load the bases with one out. Boylan then caught Jeff DeCarlo striking out looking for out number two. He looked like he was going to escape the jam when he got O'Brien to hit what looked like a routine pop up to the right side. The pop up got hung up in a pretty stiff wind and was misplayed by the Tanner right side allowing both Costello and Andre to score to make it 3-0. Buldini followed with a bloop single to right that scored Crisafulli to give the Chiefs a 4-0 lead.

Woburn put two runners in scoring position in the sixth before Coppinger got Keith Morris to fly to Costello in right.

The Chiefs added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when DiCato and Costello both walked and Andre moved them to second and third. Righty Bobby Whalen replaced Boylan on the mound and issued an intentional walk to Crisafulli to load the bases. DeCarlo then lofted a sacrifice fly to center that scored DiCato with the Chiefs fifth run.

Coppinger (2-2) retired Woburn in order in the seventh to pick up the complete game , five strikeout, 108 pitch, win.

Chiefs Notebook...The Chiefs are right back in action on Wednesday night when they make their first visit of the year to Walsh Field in Wakefield for a 6:00 PM date with the Merchants....Lefty Jeff DeCarlo, who will heading to the University of Michigan in September, is expected to get the first start of his Chiefs career....On the heels of the Rich Montecalvo injury, second baseman Doug Heald has come up with a back injury that has the Chiefs middle infield looking for some help....Coppinger lowered his ERA to 2.37 with Tuesday's shutout....

Woburn-Plain and simple, they just let this one slip away.

After rallying back from a 3-0 defecit to take a 5-3 lead in the fourth inning, the Chiefs defense self imploded with three errors as they nicely gift wrapped and handed a 10-5 win to Woburn at Ferullo Field on Thursday night.

The Tanners took a 3-0 lead off starter and loser Mike DiCato in the third with the key hit being a Keigan DiNapoli bomb double to  center.

The Chiefs took advantage of the wildness of Woburn starter John Lynch and took a 5-3 lead in the fourth.

The Tanners capitalized off of three Chiefs miscues in the bottom of the fifth to take a 6-5 lead that they never relinquished.

DiCato allowed only three earned runs before giving way to relivers Mark Blake and Mike Chandler. Mike Andre was four for four including a long double that raised his average to .444 (12-27) as he had four of the Chiefs six hits on the night. The others were a Jeff DeCarlo RBI single in the fourth and a Sean O'Brien leadoff single in the fifth. 

It does not get any easier for the struggling Chiefs as they are off until Sunday afternoon when they travel to Somerville to face the first place 9-1 Cassell Club at Trum Field at 3:00 PM.

Medford- Warren Olson is not walking through that door.

Neither is Hank Landers, Joe Rizzo, Alex Masel, Dave Clivio or Steve Daley et, al.

Make no mistake about it, these are not your grandfather's Chiefs.

That fact could not be any more evident than it was Tuesday night when the veteran Wakefield Merchants came to town and showed the young Chiefs what day to day life in the ICL is all about, ripping off 15 hits and 13 runs off a quartet of Chiefs picthers en route to a 13-1 thrashing of the locals at Playstead Park.

It was the worst defeat for the Chiefs since June 15, 1997, when the Cremone A's put an end to a 18 game Chief winning steak, 24-5 at Devir Park.

This one started and ended ugly for the youthful Chiefs.

The Merchants sent 19 year old Chiefs southpaw Connor Bishop (Arlington, MA, Bridgewater State) to the showers after just 1.1 innings, roughing up the former Spy Ponders star for six runs and eight hits.

It was pretty much downhill hill from there as the Merchants continued their assault with four more runs against former Medford High star Mark Blake (UMass-Amherst), who worked an inning and two thirds giving up four runs, three earned.

Wakefield's offensive barrage was momentarily halted in the fourth by University of Michigan bound lefty Jeff DeCarlo, formerly of St. John's Prep, before the Merchants got to him for four runs on four hits in their half of the fifth.

L.J. DiMaino (3 for 4) of Clemson University, Rob Papenhouse (3 for 4) of Brown and Mike Sorrentino (3 for 5) of WPI feasted on Chiefs pitching for a combined 9 for 13 throughout the evening.

On the mound, Merchants veteran starter John Spidel, allowed just four hits, including the 79th career home run off the bat of Justin Crisafulli in the first inning , that accounted for the Chiefs lone run of the evening.

Another isolated bright spot for the Chiefs was righty Mike Chandler (Hamilton, MA, Merrimack) who worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning.

Chiefs Notebook....The Chiefs fell to four games under .500, (2-6-1) for the first time in their illustrious history.  In fact, the last time a Chiefs team was below .500 was on May 29, 1993, when the then defending champion Chiefs fell to 1-2 three games into the season. They recovered quickly and finished the season at 23-10....In the "shaving cream not yet required" department, how young are these 2006 Chiefs anyway? Aside from 30 year old veteran star Justin Crisafulli, the Chiefs did not have a starting player on the field tonight that had reached their 20th birthday. In the ICL, that's "big time" young....The injury bug continues to bite the Chiefs as well. Ace Mike Lanciani (elbow), catcher Sean O'Brien (stomach) and veteran centerfielder Brian Macrina (knee) were out of the lineup....For Lanciani, Chandler, Doug Heald, Mike Andre and Mike Coppinger, all current players at Merrimack College, it was a chance for them to see what their head coach and veteran Merchant second baseman Joe Sarno could do on the field. Sarno showed his players that he could still play the game at a pretty high level with a third inning basehit and a spectacular game ending grab of a Matt Boleski pop up in shallow centerfield....The Chiefs are off on Wednesday and will return to action on Thursday night when they travel to Ferullo Field in Woburn for a 8:00 PM start...