Entries by iclbaseball

Mitchell Throws Second Shutout for Americans, Reds Sweep Sunday Doubleheader

Chris Mitchell pitched his second consecutive complete game shutout, and Matt Hosman and Mike LaRovere drove in the runs, when the Melrose Americans beat the Reading Bulldogs 2-0 at Endicott College in Beverly. Mitchell, from Colby-Sawyer, has allowed just 10 hits and struck out 11 in his 14 innings so far this season. In other Sunday action, the Watertown Reds swept a doubleheader from the Merchants in Wakefield, winning both games by a 4-3 score. More to come on these games. On Monday, the Bulldogs host the Arlington Trojans at Endicott College at 8:00 PM, the Reds and Blue Sox play in Lexington at 8:00 PM, and the Americans travel to meet the Chiefs at Maplewood/Malden Catholic at 8:15 PM.

Arlington Nips Wakefield 7-6 in Lone Friday Contest

The Arlington Trojans rapped out a dozen hits to edge the Wakefield Merchants 7-6 at Summer Street Field in the only ICL game played on Friday night. Ryan Hood, Mike Besozzi, and Jack Kingman each had two hits and Spencer Balian had three RBI’s for the Trojans. Jake Ryan (1-0) picked up the win in relief. Anthony Cecere had two hits, including a triple, and three RBI’s for the Merchants. On Sunday, the Watertown Reds and the Merchants will meet in a doubleheader at Walsh Field in Wakefield beginning at 2:00 PM and the Melrose Americans visit the Reading Bulldogs at Endicott College in Beverly at 7:00 PM.  

Chiefs Beat Reds 6-3, Blue Sox Get 3 HR’s in 13-1 Thursday Win at Trum

The Chiefs used three pitchers, Mitchell Clegg, Tim Dunphy, and Josh Desai, to beat the Reds in Watertown 6-3. Peter Copa and Matt Nuzzo each had 2 RBI’s as Dunphy (1-0) picked up the win. Will Brennan hit his second homer of the year for the Reds. In Somerville, the Lexington Blue Sox got home runs from Taylor Ferguson, Alex Voitik, and Eduardo Soto to hammer the Royals 13-1 at Trum. Ryan Fillipowicz  (1-0) went five innings to get the win. The Wakefield Merchants and Arlington Trojans meet at Summer Street Field in the only ICL game scheduled for Friday.

Bulldogs, Merchants & Reds Get Wednesday Wins

Kevin Marciano delivered the game winning single in the fifth inning, and Wayne Lundgren (1-0) got the win, when the Reading Bulldogs edged the Andre Chiefs 5-4 at Maplewood. Max Mardany picked up the two inning save. In Wakefield, the Merchants scored seven unanswered runs, erasing a 4-0 Somerville Royals lead, on the way to a 7-4 win at Walsh. Bobby Lossano led the way at the plate for the Merchants with a double and triple. Greg Johnson (1-0) allowed three hits in five innings to record the win. 2016 ICL Pitcher of the Year Bill Sullivan (1-0) got the win and Dan Chassion (5 RBI’s) and Will Brennan both homered to lead the Reds to a 9-1 win over the Arlington Trojans at Victory Field. The Lexington-Melrose game was postponed due to wet grounds at Morelli Field. Two ICL games are scheduled for Thursday. The Chiefs meet the Reds at Victory Field in Watertown at 7:45 PM and the Blue Sox and Royals play at Trum Field in Somerville at 8:15 PM.

Blue Sox & Reds Get Sunday Road Wins

The Lexington Blue Sox and Watertown Reds both got road wins on Sunday. In Arlington, Kelvin Guzman got the victory when the Blue Sox knocked off the Trojans 7-1 at Summer Street Field. Dante Padovani threw a complete game four-hitter to lead the Reds to a 9-0 win over the Reading Bulldogs at Endicott College in Beverly. Weather permitting, two ICL games are scheduled on Monday. The Wakefield Merchants visit the Americans at Morelli Field in Melrose at 7:30 PM and the Andre Chiefs host the Trojans at Maplewood Park (Malden Catholic) at 8:15 PM.

Americans & Trojans Get Opening Night Wins

The Melrose Americans got RBI’s from Nick Herzog, John Jennings, and Dave Center, to back the complete game four hit pitching of Chris Mitchell, and turn back the Blue Sox in Lexington 3-0 on Friday night. In the only other opening night game, the Arlington Trojans scored four times in the bottom of the fifth inning, overcoming a 3-0 deficit, to edge the Reading Bulldogs 4-3 at Summer Street Field. There are no ICL games scheduled on Saturday.

Chiefs’ Coach Steve Calabresi “Coach Cal” Passes Away

Stephen Calabresi, 65 of Stoneham, formerly of Medford, beloved husband of Jean M. (Coleman) Calabresi, passed away on Tuesday, April 25th at Tufts University Medical Center in Boston. Born in Boston, he is the son of Margaret (Mongiello) Calabresi and the late Zorro Calabresi. Stephen grew up in Medford. Stephen was employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds Office, as an Executive Assistant of the Land Court until his retirement in 2016. Stephen continued working part time at the Registry after his retirement. Stephen’s real passion was baseball. On the field, he was affectionately known as “Coach Cal.” He was the Bench Coach for the Andre Chiefs, the former assistant baseball coach at Arlington Catholic High School and MIT and the coach for the North Medford Little League. Stephen was also the vice president for Medford Babe Ruth League. He loved being with the team. For 40 years, Coach Cal helped players excel at the game. It was his passion and he will truly be missed by all the players whose lives he made a difference in. In addition to his wife of 35 years, Jean, he is survived by cousins: Joseph Mongiello and his wife Roberta and Patricia Howes and her husband Brad; sisters-in-law: Joan Coleman and Janet Coleman; brother-in-law: John Coleman and his wife Leslie, along with his loving nephews Daniel Coleman and his wife Abby, Brian Coleman and his wife Melissa and Michael Coleman and extended family and friends. Funeral from the Barile Family Funeral Home, 482 Main St. (RT 28) STONEHAM Monday, May 1st at 8am followed by a Funeral Mass Celebrating Stephen’s Eternal Life in St. Patrick Church, 71 Central St. Stoneham at 9am. Family and friends are cordially invited to gather and share memories with the Family on Sunday, April 30th from 4-8pm in the Funeral Home. Parking attendants and elevator are available. Interment Lindenwood Cemetery, Stoneham. In lieu of flowers, please consider making donations in Stephen’s Memory to Northeast Animal Shelter, 347 Highland Ave. Salem, MA 01970. For more information, www.facebook.com/BarileFamilyFuneralHome

Former ICL Umpire Bill Austin Passes Away

AUSTIN, William C. Jr. of Medford. Feb. 1, 2017. Beloved husband of the late Elizabeth (Boynton). Loving father of William Austin of Fort Myers, FL, Richard Austin of Foxboro, Scott Austin of Everett, Sheri Zammora of Malden. Brother of Sally Cefalo of Lynn. Also survived by 7 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. William was a Korean War Navy veteran. Retired after 34 years of the Medford Fire Dept. He was also on member of the Shirners. A funeral service will be held at the Keefe Funeral Home, 5 Chestnut St., Rt.60 (adjacent to St. Agnes Church) ARLINGTON on Tuesday at 10 am. Relatives and friends invited. Visiting hours Monday from 4-8 pm. Burial in Oak Grove Cemetery, Medford. For obituary, directions or to send a condolence visit www.keefefuneralhome.com. Bill was an umpire at a number of levels of baseball including the Intercity League.

ICL Comedy Night to be held on Saturday, January 28th at Anthony’s in Malden

Hello & Happy New Year to the ICL, Alumni,Friends & Family The ICL is asking for your support, and since we took a year off from the Hall of Fame, we have decided to put together a night to get together and have some laughs, present awards from 2016 winners and reunion. Saturday, January 28th @ Anthony’s in Malden MA, some of the best comedian will be making you laugh. John David & Sal Votano will be our headliners. The night will have plenty of raffles, Celtics & Red Sox tickets, along with many more raffles.  A silent auction, with several signed memorabilia. A buffet dinner will be starting @ 6:45, show begins @ 8:30. Tickets are $40.00, you can reserve your spot by emailing iclhalloffame@yahoo.com or Call Orazio Azzarello  617-839-6843 Please pass this along. The ICL appreciates your support.  If anyone would like to raffle something or can not attend and would like to donate please get in touch with us.  The money donated helps the league pay for many expenses and will allow us to continue playing the Finals @ Morelli Field in Melrose. Looking forward to hearing from you. Orazio Azzarello ICL Event Coordinator 617-839-6843

Chiefs’ Mike Pagliarulo Named as Miami Marlins Hitting Coach

Mike Pagliarulo, who was a member of the Andre Chiefs Coaching Staff in 2016, was recently named Hitting Coach of the Miami Marlins. Below is a story written by Sun Sentinel Sports Reporter Tim Healey. There are two things you should know about Mike Pagliarulo, the Miami Marlins’ new hitting coach. The first is his last name is pronounced Pal-lee-ah-ROO-low — or, as Pagliarulo put it, “however it comes out.” Most people just call him Pags. The second is that Pagliarulo, 56, is a researcher of sorts, always passionate and sometimes obsessive. The guy does his homework. From an amateur career that brought him to the University of Miami to his major league days when he was teammates with Don Mattingly to multiple stages of a post-playing career, Pagliarulo has made research and preparedness a hallmark of his baseball life. Pagliarulo would have never ended up in South Florida if not for his research. He was a suburban Boston kid in the 1970s, an all-state player as a junior but not sure how good he really was, playing maybe two-dozen games a year in a part of the country where the winter comes early and stays late. So he started reaching out to college programs to gauge potential interest Florida Stateand Rollins College in the Sunshine State, Southern California and Arizona outside it. And then there was UM. Pagliarulo’s grandparents lived in Pembroke Pines, and during one family get-together he arranged a visit to Coral Gables, too. That’s where he met Ron Fraser, the late and legendary Hurricanes baseball coach, and assistant Skip Bertman. A 6-foot-2, switch-hitting shortstop? Pagliarulo had their attention. He ended up with a scholarship and a successful three-year collegiate career. “I felt like that was where I was born in baseball,” Pagliarulo said in a telephone interview Wednesday, a day after his hiring with the Marlins was announced. The New York Yankees picked Pagliarulo in the sixth round of the 1981 amateur draft. Three years later, he made it to the Bronx and played third base opposite Mattingly, the All-Star first baseman and MVP candidate. It was the start of Pagliarulo’s 11-season big league career with five teams, plus a one-year layover in Japan. One of his best seasons came in 1991, when he was on the World Series-winning Minnesota Twins. Pagliarulo spent half of his major league days with the Yankees, with whom he learned further lessons in research — in this case, research on a given game’s starting pitcher. The detailed scouting reports commonplace now were much less so then. “The Yankees had reports on everything,” Pagliarulo said. “I can say I was always prepared for first pitch.” Research has remained the common career thread for Pagliarulo, but in his post-playing days it took on a more central role. Research became his job, as opposed to the preparation for his job, as he transitioned into the scouting world. Pagliarulo and Willie Fraser — a contemporary and fellow journeyman who also had a Japan stint and joined the Marlins as an advance scout last season — became part-owners of iScout, Inc., in late 2001. They consulted with major league and Japanese teams interested in bringing in players from the other country, a service complete with video scouting reports — a rarity for a turn-of-the-century enterprise. By the end of last decade, Pagliarulo joined the Los Angeles Angels as a major league and advance scout. In 2013-14, he was the hitting coach for Triple-A Indianapolis in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system, Pagliarulo’s only professional coaching gig until this week. Gregory Polanco, Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer were among his charges. After two seasons, Pagliarulo wanted more. “I knew I could have an impact on a major league club,” he said. He started plotting his next move, getting back to his research roots: Now what? Instead of a high school kid looking for a college, Pagliarulo was the middle-aged father of two grown children and looking for another direction. He reached out to people in the game he knew to see where might be a fit. He thought hitting coordinator, usually a sort of organizational floater/overseer spending time with various minor league teams, would be a logical next step. Talks with the Marlins and Boston Red Sox last winter didn’t result in a job. A year later, with the Marlins moving on from Barry Bonds after one season as hitting coach, Pagliarulo got the job. As he works with assistant hitting coach Frank Menechino, Pagliarulo will be tasked with helping Marlins hitters digest the occasionally intimidating library of information available to them — including video, an aspect of the club’s offensive game Mattingly stressed needed to get better as Miami’s season petered out to a disappointing end in September. Pagliarulo is confident he can do that. The skill set he has developed over the course of decades is one of a modern major league hitting coach. “I’m so glad the technology is as advanced as it is,” Pagliarulo said. “From my lived experience, with that technology, I can expand on what I’ve learned and what [players] need to learn.” thealey@sun-sentinel.com, @timbhealey Copyright © 2016, Sun Sentinel