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 40^th playoff game between the two teams since 2006. Monday night’s win was the 13^th 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

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

 

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.

Andrew Mazzone, Ryan Cloutier, and Leon Paulino all homered to lead the Sabertooth Expos to an 18-7 rout of the Andre Chiefs at Maplewood on Monday night. Kebler Peralta and Jose Paulino added three RBI’s each as the Expos rung out 17 hits. Dan Shaw (3-1) went the distance to record the win. Shaw allowed eight hits but struck out 11. Andrew Caulfield drove in five of the Chiefs’ runs with two doubles. Tim Dunphy (4-3) took the loss.

In Lexington, the Blue Sox came back from a 2-0 fourth inning hole to rally past the Bulldogs 3-2.  Jack Swarbrick (1-0) went four innings to get the win while Ryan O’Rourke picked up the three inning save. Graham Seed gave the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead in the second with a two-run homer. Andrew Selima drove in a run and Joe Auger had a double for the Blue Sox. Ethan Hunt (0-1) was tagged with the loss.

On Tuesday, the Chiefs visit the Melrose Americans at Morelli Field at 7:30 PM, the Expos and Bulldogs meet at Maplewood at 8:00 PM, and the Blue Sox and Malden Maddogs hook up at Lexington High also at 8:00 PM.

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.