Lexington – The Alibrandis Baseball Club won game one of its semifinal series against Lexington 5-2 to take a 1-0 series lead. Teddy Dziuba drove in three runs, two with a double in the three-run fifth, and the final run on a fielder’s choice in the seventh.  His double in the fifth gave the Alibrandis a 3-0 lead. Anthony Delprete (1-0) started and pitched four shutout innings for the Alibrandis. He pitched three 1-2-3 innings only allowing baserunners in the second inning. The veteran right hander gave up two singles in the second, but also struck out the side. Delprete finished with six strikeouts, four of them looking. In the fourth the Alibrandis loaded the bases with no outs on two singles and an error. Bobby Barrett singled through the left side to drive in Mike Maguire with the first run. That was all the Alibrandis would get that inning as Lexington starter Alsis Herrera struck out Gordie Gronkowski and Matt Henriksen and then retired Jamill Moquette on an infield popup to end the threat. Lexington mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh, but came up short only scoring twice. Dan Graham started the rally with a double to left. After an out, Jeff Vigurs reached on a two-base error, but Graham could only go to third. Dom Zaher followed with an RBI single to center scoring Graham and putting Blue Sox on first and third with one out. Ross Curley drove a ball deep to right center, but Maguire made the catch for the second out, it was deep enough for Vigurs to come home to make the score 5-2. Herrera pitched four plus innings for the Sox. The lefty gave up six hits, walked none and struck out five in taking the loss.d Game two of the series is Friday night at Malden Catholic’s Maplewood Field with first pitch scheduled at 8:00 PM.        

Bobby Barrett (pictured) hit a grand slam in the top of the eighth inning, to break a 1-1 tie, and then Alibrandis held on to beat the Reading Bulldogs 5-2 at Morelli Field. With the win, Alibrandis tied the series up at one game each. Tyler Cedeno drove in Mason Campbell in the bottom of the sixth inning to tie the game up for the Bulldogs. Lew Jensen and James Cramphin combined to get the win for Alibrandis.  Jack Theriault took the loss in the eighth inning in relief of Ben Gottesman. Gottesman allowed only four hits in his seven innings. The deciding game three of the Reading-Alibrandis series will be now played at Victory Field in Watertown on Sunday at 7:00 PM. It was originally scheduled at Morelli Field but has been moved to the artificial surface at Victory due to wet grounds in Melrose. Game two of the Andre Chiefs-Watertown Reds series will also be played on Sunday at Maplewood/Malden Catholic at 8:00 PM. If a third game is needed, it would be played in Watertown on Monday night. The Reds lead that series 1-0. The #1 seeded Lexington Blue Sox and #2 seeded Wakefield Merchants await their opponents in the best of five semi-finals which are scheduled to begin on Tuesday. The Blue Sox will host game one at Lexington High at 8:00 PM while the Merchants will play at Trum Field in Somerville at 8:15 PM.

The Andre Chiefs spotted the Melrose Americans a 3-0 first inning lead, then scored 12 unanswered runs, on the way to a 12-3 play-in game win at soggy Maplewood Park on Wednesday night. With the win the Chiefs advance to the first round of the ICL’s playoffs against the Watertown Reds. Game one of that best of three series will be played on Thursday night at Victory Field at 7:30 PM. The Reading Bulldogs-Albrandis series will also begin on Thursday night. The first game will be played at Morelli Field in Melrose at 8:00 PM. The Americans-Chiefs game was twice delayed by rain and lightning. The game started on time at 8:00 PM, was halted twice in the top of the first inning, and finally resumed at 9:50 PM. The Chiefs got a three-run first inning homer and seven RBI’s from Ben Waldrip, who went 4-4, to lead the win. Tim Dunphy took over for Jared Freni after the the second rain delay and proceeded to throw 6.1 innings of shutout ball. Tony Serino and Matt Nuzzo had two hits each for the Chiefs while Johnny Welch (single, sac fly) and Leivi Ventura (double) each had two RBI’s. The Americans took a 3-0 lead in the extended first inning on singles from Malcolm Nachmanoff, John Jennings, Dave Center and Charlie Huegi. 2018 INTERCITY LEAGUE PLAYOFF SEEDS 1-Lexington Blue Sox 2-Wakefield Merchants 3-Watertown Reds 4-Alibrandis 5-Reading Bulldogs 6-Andre Chiefs

The Watertown Reds scored an unearned run in bottom of the sixth inning and went on to edge the Andre Chiefs 4-3 at Victory Field. Nate Esplin (1-0) got the win in relief and Tim Dunphy (2-2) took the loss after Chiefs’ starter Evan Walsh worked into the fifth, striking out seven. Justin Forman had two hits and scored the winning run for the Reds. The Reading Bulldogs and Alibrandis fought to a nine inning 4-4 tie at Morton Field. Reading got a homer and two RBI’s from Zac Tallis and a double and a couple of RBI’s from Joey Hodapp. Chuck Erickson hit his first homer of the year for Alibrandis. The Somerville Royals took both ends of a doubleheader, 5-2 and 10-9, from the Malden Maddogs at Trum Field. Rob Caggiano had three hits and three RBI’s in the opener as Soren Hanson (2-2) struck out nine to pick up the win. Nick Valdario led the way in the nightcap with a homer, three hits, and three RBI’s.

The Wakefield Merchants clinched second place and a first round playoff bye with a 2-0 win over the Americans on Thursday night in Melrose. Mike Andrews (4-1) got his fourth win of the year with a complete game five-hitter, striking out one. Dillon Koster and Joe Barry drove in the runs and Brendan Barry had three hits for the Merchants. Malcolm Nachmanoff had two of the Americans’ hits. Chris Mitchell (3-3) pitched well but took the loss. Alibrandis utilized two big innings, picking up five runs in the first then adding six runs in the sixth, to go on and beat the Reading Bulldogs 13-12 at Maplewood. The Bulldogs scored in every inning but still came up a run shy. Mike Maguire (3-4, 2 RBI’s), Teddy Dziuba and Bobby Barrett led the way at the plate for Alibrndis as Sean Sullivan (1-1-1) picked up his first ICL win in relief. Joey Hodapp had three hits and Tyler Cedeno three RBI’s for the Bulldogs.