#2 ANDRE CHIEFS (20-7) vs #1 SABERTOOTH EXPOS (22-5)
Best of Five- All games at Morelli Field, Melrose MA at 8:00 PM
GAME 1- Expos 3, Chiefs 1
GAME 2- Expos 6, Chiefs 5
Tuesday, August 15- PPD RAIN
GAME 3- Wednesday, August 16
GAME 4- Thursday, August 17 (if nec)
GAME 5- Friday, August 18 (if nec)
The Sabertooth Expos broke open a 1-1 game, scoring six runs in the top of the seventh inning, and went on to defeat the Melrose Americans 7-1 on Wednesday night at Morelli Field. With the win the Expos sweep the semi-final series 2-0 and will now move on to meet the Andre Chiefs in the best of five Intercity League Championship Series.
The Expos’ Dan Shaw and the Americans’ Jordan Gottesman engaged in a brilliant pitchers’ duel for the first six innings with the score tied at 1-1 heading into the seventh.
Ian Libby gave Melrose a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
The Expos tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the sixth on an Idleson Tavares two out double.
Ryan Cloutier’s two RBI single put the Expos in front 3-1 in the seventh. Angelo Colucci, Tavares and Cloutier all had two RBI’s for the Expos while Andrew Mazzone added two hits.
Shaw went the distance and allowed just four hits. Gottesman went 6.1 innings surrendered five hits and struck out nine before giving way to Nick Colucci in the seventh.
Lexington – For the first time since 2016 the Andre Chiefs will be playing for the Intercity League Championship as they beat Lexington 3-1 Wednesday night to sweep the semi-final series.
The Chiefs put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the third inning for the second straight game. With two outs Nick Valdario started the rally with a double to left center. Juan Para doubled to center driving in Valdario for a 1-0 lead. Para took third on a ground ball by Miles Reid as Para rounded the bag, he saw the throw get away from Blue Sox first baseman Jake Elbeery and raced home to give the Chiefs a 2-0 lead.
With two outs and no one on in the fourth, Elbeery drove the first pitch from Chiefs starter Evan Walsh high and deep over the right field fence for his first home run of the playoffs putting the Sox on the scoreboard, at 2-1.
The Chiefs added an insurance run in the sixth. Andrew Caulfield took a one-out walk from Blue Sox reliever Braham Rosario. A balk moved Caulfield to second and after the second out a wild pitch moved Caulfield to third. With two outs Caulfield scored on another Blue Sox error to take a 3-1 lead.
Walsh tossed a complete-game three-hitter, walked none and struck out 10. He pitched five innings of 3-up, 3-down and retired the last 10 Sox batters he faced, five on strikeouts. It was his first postseason win over Lexington and improved his record to 4-2 in the playoffs. The 10 strike outs are the second most in a playoff game for Walsh. He struck out 12 Reading Bulldogs in 2019.
Both starters had 1-2-3 first innings. Lexington starter, Chris Wanat, retired the first eight Chiefs before Valdario’s double in the third. Wanat pitched five innings, gave up five hits, two runs, one earned, walked none and struck out four.
Walsh set down the first five Sox batters before Eric LeBreault doubled to left with two outs in the second. The lefty then set down the next six Sox before giving up the home run to Elbeery.
A midseason addition to the Blue Sox Elbeery hit four home runs over the summer in 11 games for Lexington. He drove in two runs in the playoffs and was second on the team with 12 RBI in the regular season.
The Chiefs last visit to the finals in 2016 was the last year of a six-year run that saw the Chiefs and Blue Sox met in the finals every season from 2011-16. The last Chiefs championship was in 2014 with a 3-2 series win over Lexington. This will be the seventh Championship appearance for the Chiefs since 2006. In the previous six they won twice and lost four times, all to the Blue Sox.
For Lexington this ends a 15-year stretch in which the Blue Sox have played in the finals every year. During that time the Blue Sox won 12 ICL Championships and lost three times.
The Chiefs will face off against the defending champions Sabertooth Expos (known as Middlesex Expos in 2021-22) in this season’s 2023 title matchup. All the finals games will be played at Melrose’s Morelli Field.
By Bruce Hack
Lexington Director of Media Relations
Tonight’s Andre Chiefs-Lexington Blue Sox playoff game will be broadcast live on the Blue Sox Baseball Network starting at 8:00 PM.
(Melrose, MA)- Nick Johnson threw six innings of two-hit ball to lead the Sabertooth Expos to a 7-0 win over the Melrose Americans on Monday evening at Morelli Field.
With the win the Expos take a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.
Jose Paulino gave the Expos the lead with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the third inning. Michael Oliviera had two RBI’s and Leon Paulino added two hits for the Expos.
Johnson struck out eight batters before giving way to Ryan Cloutier in the seventh.
Chris Mitchell (2 innings), Ronnie Luke (3 innings) and Greg Johnson worked for the Americans.
Game two of the series will be played on Tuesday at Morelli starting at 8:00 PM.
Malden, MA – With both teams scoring limited to one inning each the Chiefs put up the bigger crooked number and then held on to take game one of the best of three semi-final series with Lexington in a game played at Maplewood Park on the campus of Malden Catholic.
The Chiefs scored four in the third inning on five hits. Nate Witkowski started the inning with a single to center. Tyler Ferdinand’s sacrifice moved Witkowski into scoring position. A single up the middle by #10 hitter Nick Valdario put Chiefs on the corners with one out. Juan Parra and Miles Reid followed with RBI singles, and it was quickly 2-0 Andre. Teddy Dzuiba hit a comebacker to Lexington starter Steve Bangs who tossed to first to get Dzuiba, but Parra scored with the third run of the inning. Andrew Caulfield closed out the scoring with a line drive single to left plating Reid and it was 4-0 Chiefs. Caulfield’s’ hit was the sixth and last one of the night for the Chiefs.
Lexington got on the scoreboard in the sixth. Ernie Little began the rally with a ground-rule double down the right field line. Little went to third on a single to center by V Desai and the Sox had runners on the corners with no outs. Jake Elbeery flied out to center, but deep enough to bring home Little with the first Blue Sox run. A wild pitch allowed Desai to take second and then went to third when Julian Alvarez reached on an error again putting Blue Sox on the corners this time with one out. Bryan Acosta reached on fielders’ choice, Alvarez forced at second, on a ground ball to short, with Desai scoring the Sox second run and cutting the lead to 4-2. Chiefs starter Paul Frisoli ended the threat by inducing a infield popup off the bat of Eric LeBreault that Frisoli caught for the third out.
Frisoli, making his fourth appearance of the summer, tossed a complete game giving up five hits, only three through the first five innings. He walked none and struck out eight in earning the win. He had three 3-up, 3-down innings in the first, fifth and seventh.
Lexington starter Bangs pitched three innings, gave up six hits, four runs and walked and struck out one.
Both starters had a 1-2-3 first inning, with Bangs inducing three ground balls to Little at second.
In the second inning both starters ran into trouble.
Alvarez started the Lexington half with a sharp single to left for the first hit of the night for either team. He took second on a sacrifice bunt by Acosta. Then with one out Frisoli hit LeBreault and then Josue Feliciano to load the bases. He got out of the threat by striking out Andrew Selima and Joe Auger to strand the three Blue Sox runners.
A single by Caulfield started the bottom of the second and a walk to Ryan Noone put Chiefs on first and second with no outs. Bangs induced John Batista to hit into a 6-4-3 double play and suddenly there were two outs and Caulfield was on third. He was left there when Joe Bova went down swinging to end the peril.
Eric Lopes pitched the last three innings for Lexington. He did not allow a hit or run, but walked four, struck out three and hit a batter.
This was the 40th playoff game between the two teams since 2006. Monday night’s win was the 13th for the Chiefs. Of those 40 games, 30 of them have come in the Intercity League finals, including 26 between 2011 and 2016, as the teams met in six consecutive championship rounds.
The two teams play game two Tuesday night in Lexington with first pitch scheduled for 8:00 pm.
By Bruce Hack
Lexington Director of Media Relations
Cory Bright delivered his third hit of the game to drive home Pat Costigan with the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning to give the Melrose Americans a 6-5 win over the Malden Maddogs in the ICL’s play-in game at Morelli Field.
After the Americans had tied the score at 4-4 in the bottom of the 7th, the Maddogs pushed across a run in the top of the 8th.
The Americans will meet the Sabertooth Expos tonight at Morelli starting at 8 PM.
The Andre Chiefs and Lexington Blue Sox meet in game one of their series at Maplewood, also at 8:00 PM.
Sunday’s play-in game between the #5 Malden Maddogs and #4 Melrose Americans will be broadcast live on Local Sport Productions (LSP) from Morelli Field in Melrose starting at 8:00 PM. Sam Feeley will handle the play by play.
The winner of the play-in game will move on to meet the #1 Sabertooth Expos at Morelli on Monday at 8:00 PM in the first game of the a best of three sem-final series. Also on Monday, the opening game of the #2 Andre Chiefs vs #3 Lexington Blue Sox series will be played at Maplewood/Malden Catholic starting at 8:00 PM.
To watch Sunday’s broadcast go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVZxxc9RmE
The Melrose Americans and Malden Maddogs will meet on Sunday night in the ICL’s play-in game at 8:00 PM at Morelli Field.
The #4 Americans finished the season in fourth place with a 10-14 record while the the #5 Maddogs ended up in fifth position at 8-17.
The winner of Sunday’s play-in game will move on to meet the #1 seeded Sabertooth Expos (20-5) in a best of three semi-final series that will begin Monday at Morelli at 8:00 PM.
In the other semi-final series, the #2 Andre Chiefs (18-7) will meet the #3 Lexington Blue Sox (13-12). Game one is scheduled for Monday at Maplewood/Malden Catholic. Game two will be played in Lexington on Tuesday. If a game three is needed it will be contested back at Maplewood on Wednesday. All games in the series will begin at 8:00 PM.
The semi-finals winners will move on to the ICL’s best of five championship series with the schedule for that series to be announced.
In Thursday’s final regular season game, the Lexington Bulldogs beat the Maddogs 12-5 in Lexington.
Friday’s scheduled Bulldogs-Americans game at Morelli Field has been cancelled due to the expected heavy rain.
Quinton Copeland had three hits, including a homer and double, and drove in three runs, to lead the Malden Maddogs to a 9-4 win over the Melrose Americans on Wednesday night at Morelli Field. Sam Browning and Lawrence Tang added two hits each to the Maddogs’ nine hit attack. Garrett Kingston (1-1) got the win. Will Hunter and Noah Jankowski both had a couple of hits for the Americans.
At Maplewood, the Sabertooth Expos broke open a close 3-2 game and scored eight times in the bottom of the sixth inning to come away with an 11-2 win over the Lexington Blue Sox.
The Maddogs visit the Lexington Bulldogs on Thursday at 7:00 PM in the only ICL game on the schedule.