Expos Five Run 6th Beats Chiefs, 5-3
The Sabertooth Expos scored five times in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally past the Andre Chiefs 5-3 at Maplewood on Thursday night in a battle for first place.
Chiefs’ starter Paul Frisoli faced the minimum 15 batters through five innings before the Expos took advantage of his sudden wildness and wrestled the game away in the sixth.
The Chiefs jumped out to a 2-0 first inning lead against Expos’ ace Nick Johnson on a walk to Joe Bova, a Miles Reid double, and a sacrifice fly to center from Andrew Caulfield.
The lead went to 3-0 in the third on a Bova leadoff triple followed by a Reid single.
Frisoli was perfect through three innings before the Expos broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Leon Peralta led off with a single but was picked off first after a rundown. George Chava followed with another single but was erased when Anthony Mazzone bounced into a 4-6-3 doubleplay as the Expos sent the minimum 15 batters to the plate through five innings.
Meanwhile, Johnson began to settle in, striking out the Chiefs’ side in the fourth, getting them in order in the fifth with a K, and ended the top of the sixth with another strikeout with Hector Pellot aboard via a walk.
Things unraveled quickly for Frisoli and the Chiefs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Three consecutive walks to Michael Oliviera, Jose Paulino, and Hunter Weissman, loaded the bases with nobody out. Frisoli then struck out Leon Paulino for the first out before a Chava groundout got the Expos on the board at 3-1. Mazzone then delivered an RBI single to make it 3-2. Jon Matos replaced Frisoli and the Expos greeted him with consecutive singles by Leon Paulino, Ryan Cloutier and Angelo Colucci for three more runs and a 5-3 lead. Cameron Breault came on for the Chiefs and ended the inning with a strikeout, keeping it a two run Expos lead heading into the seventh.
Johnson struck out the first two batters of the seventh before the Chiefs got two runners aboard via an error and a walk. Johnson finished in style recording his 12th K of the game to secure the Expos’ win.
Johnson, now 6-0, allowed five hits. He has struck out 96 batters in 49 innings so far this summer and has an ERA of 1.43. Frisoli (0-1) ended up taking the loss. The righty went 5.2 innings, gave up three hits, struck out seven, but allowed three walks that all scored in the sixth inning.
The Blue Sox-Bulldogs game in Lexington was rained out.
ICL action continues on Friday with the Expos hosting the Melrose Americans at Maplewood and the Blue Sox and Bulldogs meeting in an all Lexington battle at LHS. Both games will start at 8:00 PM.
