By Bruce Hack Lexington Media Relations Director       Melrose – Lexington moved to within a win of the Intercity League Championship with a 6-2 victory over Alibrandis Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best of five finals. For the second straight night both teams scored in the first inning, but this time it was Lexington that struck first as the teams switched home and visitor roles. Aaron Barbosa started off the first for Lexington by reaching on an infield error. After two outs, Richie Burgos doubled to the fence in center and Barbosa came all the way around to score for a 1-0 lead. Alibrandis quickly tied the game in the bottom of the first. Juan Parra singled through the left side to start the inning. After a strikeout by Blue Sox starter Drew Leenhouts, a walk to Teddy Dziuba and David Lightbody reached on an error to load the bases. Bobby Barrett hit a high chopper that Leenhouts fielded behind the mound. His throw to second was not in time and Parra come home on the fielder’s choice. The home squad took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second, but it could have been more. With one out Ryan Leung reached on an error. He stole second and when Parra singled down the leftfield line Leung tried to score, but was thrown out by Blue Sox left fielder Dom Zaher on a perfect strike to catcher Nico Frelick. Parra took second on the throw to home. Michael Maguire reached on an infield single, but when second baseman Anderson Jimenez made a throwing error attempting to get Maguire, Parra was able to come home for the 2-1 lead. The lead did not last long as for the second consecutive night Ryan Beradino gave Lexington the lead for good. Beradino drove a pitch from starter Anthony DelPrete well over the right field fence for a two-run home run, his first in a Blue Sox uniform. Kyle Adie scored ahead of Beradino after reaching on a one-out walk. After the second Alibrandis run, Leenhouts retired the last seven batters he faced, including 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth. He pitched four innings and earned his first win of the 2019 playoffs. The veteran southpaw gave up three hits, two uneared runs and struck out five. The Blue Sox bullpen took over in the fifth and shutout Alibrandis over the final three innings. Dawy Lebron pitched the fifth and sixth innings. He got out of a bases-loaded two-outs jam in the fifth by getting Jake Miller on a called third strike. Lebron pitched a 1-2-3 sixth for the third such inning for the Blue Sox. Bill Christopher started off the seventh and retired the first batter, Parra, on a ground out. A walk, single and hit batter loaded the bases for the Alibrandis. Christopher struck out Barrett for the second out, but was relieved by Sox skipper Rick DeAngelis who brought in closer Manny Delcarmen. Three pitches later Delcarmen got a ground ball by Miller for the final out to secure the win. Taylor Ferguson and Morgan Brown drove in the last three Lexington runs, Brown with a two-run single through the left side to make it 6-3 in the top of the fifth. Game three is scheduled for Wednesday night with first pitch coming at 7:45 at Morelli Field.

The Intercity Baseball League will host it’s Inaugural Golf Tournament on Friday, October 4 at Hillview Country Club in North Reading. For more information on the fund raising event check the ICL website for updates.

Watertown, MA– Veteran Dave Lightbody’s two run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning erased a 3-2 Wakefield Merchants lead and propelled Alibrandis to a 4-3 series clinching victory on Friday night at Victory Field. Alibrandis wins the series 2-1 and will now move on to their first ICL Championship Series. That best of five series will begin at Morelli Field on Monday night at 7:45 PM against the defending champion Lexington Blue Sox. Chris Butler had given the Merchants a 3-2 lead with a two RBI double in the top of the sixth inning. The Merchants took a 1-0 advantage in the top of the first inning on Mike Sorrentino’s RBI single. Alibrandis came back with two runs and took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on RBI’s from Mike Maguire and Teddy Dziuba. Ryan Corriveau, who was 6-1 in the regular season, worked the first six innings for Alibrandis to get the win. 2018 ICL Pitcher of the Year Matt Horan retired the Merchants’ side in order in the top of the seventh to record the save. Greg Johnson went the route and took the loss despite some brilliant pitching. The Merchants, who were looking to return to the ICL finals for the first time since 1994, conclude the 2019 campaign with an overall 17-14 mark. Alibrandis was dominant in the Yawkey League for two decades and joined the ICL in 2018.

Malden – What a difference a day makes! In a game that was the opposite of the first game’s pitcher’s duel, Lexington outslugged Andre for the 9-6 win and a sweep of their semifinal series at Pine Banks Park Thursday night and advance to the finals. Ross Curley’s grand slam in the top of third gave the Blue Sox the lead for good at 5-2. The first Blue Sox run in the inning came after a walk to Taylor Ferguson and a single by John Puttress put runners on the corners with no outs. Aaron Barbosa followed with a single up the middle that scored Ferguson and it was 2-1. Kyle Adie reached on a fielder’s choice and the bases were loaded for Curley. He quickly cleared them with a drive that went well over the leftfield fence. Last night a lone run won the game. In game two that number was eclipsed in the bottom of the second when the Chiefs finally put a crooked number on the scoreboard. With one out Matt Maloney walked and was followed by singles by Nick Leva and Mike Burgoyne to load the bases. Tony Serino singled for his second of three hits on the night, and was 1-0 Chiefs. Mike Gedman walked with the bases loaded to force in a run for a 2-0 lead. Though Andre’s Zach Kirby lasted until the sixth, neither starting pitcher was as good as in the first game. After his teammates gave him a 5-2 lead, Lexington starter Junior Pena could not shut down the Chiefs who cut the lead to 5-3. The Chiefs also suffered a loss in the inning. Maloney, who hit a line drive into center for what appeared to be a single, and that drove in Nate Witkowski (double). Unfortunately Maloney had collapsed at home plate and was eventually tagged out by Sox catcher Puttress. Maloney left the game with a knee injury. Sox reliever Jake Vesling had come in in the third and struck out Leva to end the threat. He started the fourth by getting Mike Burgoyne on a fly ball to right. The next five Chiefs batters reached base on three singles and two walks to close to within 7-6. Ben Waldrip’s RBI single brought in the first run and Kyle Dembrowski closed out the scoring for Andre with a two-run single. Bill Christopher entered the game for Lexington after Dembrowski’s single and got a strikeout and ground out to end the fourth. He retired the Chiefs in the fifth, despite giving up two walks and was the first Sox pitcher to not give up a run. Borja Jones-Berasaluce had a 1-2-3 sixth with two strikeouts and Lexington was three outs from a sweep. Lexington closer Manny Delcarmen entered the game in the seventh and gave up a two-out single to Burgoyne before getting Serino looking for the final out and the Blue Sox were on the way to the championship round. Curley was 4-for-4 with three runs and four RBI to lead Lexington. Richie Burgos added a two-run single in the fourth. Number nine hitter Puttress had two hits and scored twice. Serino had three hits and scored and drove in a run for Andre. Waldrip scored and drove in a run for the Chiefs. Lexington awaits the winner of the Alibrandis – Wakefield series which Wakefield knotted at 1-1 with a 2-1 win in 12 innings Thursday night. The third and final game will be at Victory Field Friday night starting at 7:30. The finals will for the held at Melrose’s Morelli Field for the sixth consecutive season. By Bruce Hack, Lexington Director of Media Relations

Lexington – Lexington scored the only run of the game in the fifth and held on for a 1-0 win over the Andre Chiefs Wednesday night. The victory gives the Blue Sox a 1-0 lead in the best of three semifinal series. Mitch Schroeder started the rally with a one-out opposite-field single to right. Morgan Brown followed with an infield single putting runners at first and second. Dom Zaher grounded out to second to move the runners up. Aaron Barbosa beat out a ground ball in the hole at shortstop and Schroeder crossed home with what would be the sole run of the game. The game was a classic pitcher’s duel as starting pitchers Mike Geannelis for the Sox and Tim Dunphy for the Chiefs matched zeroes. Geannelis retired the last 12 batters he faced and the first five. His only rough spot was in the second when the Chiefs loaded the bases after two outs. He induced an infield popup from Mike Burgoyne to end the threat. In his six innings of work, Geannelis threw 66 pitches, 49 for strikes. He also threw a first-pitch strike to 20 of the 22 batters he faced. Dunphy was also efficient facing two batters over the minimum through four innings. He retired nine of ten batters before the fifth inning rally by the Sox. The Chiefs rallied in the seventh against Lexington closer Manny Delcarmen. Kyle Dembrowski and Andrew Caulfield each reached on infield singles to put runners on first and second with no outs. Both runners moved up when an attempted pickoff of pinch-runner Evan Reynolds failed. Delcarmen then struck out the next three Chiefs on 10 pitches to close out the game. The teams play game two of the series Thursday night at Pine Banks Park in Malden. Game time is scheduled for 7:45. Bruce Hack Lexington Director of Media Relations