Lexington – The headline is very familiar to Blue Sox fans.
The Blue Sox defeated Melrose 6-2 to take the semifinal series 2-1 and advanced to the Intercity League finals for the 15th consecutive season.
For the second straight game it was the second and fourth innings that the Blue Sox offense put up crooked numbers.
Alex Voitik opened the second with a walk. Consecutive ground ball outs to second moved him to third with two outs. Ernie Little kept the inning alive as he beat out a ground ball to short for a hit and RBI as Voitik scored to cut the Melrose led to 2-1. Dom Zaher walked and he and Little scored on Josue Feliciano’s two-run double to left and the Blue Sox had the lead for good at 3-2.
In the fourth Matt Chatelle started the inning with a line single to center. After an out, Little bunted and Melrose pitcher Mike Peters fielded the ball and his throw sailed into right field allowing Chatelle to go to third and Little to second. Zaher grounds out to short to bring home Chatelle for a 4-2 lead. Feliciano comes through again swinging at the first pitch and singles to center scoring Little. Melrose changes pitchers and brings in game one starter Bobby Tramondozzi. He hits Julian Alvarez and walks Andrew Selima to load the bases with two outs. Cam Meyer is hit with the first pitch and Feliciano comes home with the sixth run and a 6-2 lead.
Eric Lopes started for Lexington getting the win. He pitched five strong innings. He gave up two runs in the first as the first four Melrose batters reached base. He then set down the next eight Americans batters, the longest such streak for the Sox in the series. Gianni Zarilli doubles to lead off the fourth and is stranded at third. Pat Costigan has his second of three hits in the fifth but is left on base as Lopes retired six of the last seven batters he faced and 14 of the last 16.
The Americans started off quickly as Costigan (single), John Jennings (walk), Cory Bright, single and RBI and Zarilli, triple and RBI, started off the first. Costigan was picked off first by Lopes for the first out or the Americans could have done more damage.
Zarilli was 2-for-3 with a triple and double, RBI after going 1-for-7 in the first two games of the series. Costigan with three hits had his third straight multi hit game of the post season. Game three was the first time he did score for Melrose.
Ryan Joyce started for Melrose and took the loss. He pitched 1.2 innings, giving up three hits, three runs and walked four.
Feliciano went 2-for-4, with 3 RBI, a double and a run.
Ryan O’Rourke (6th) and Manny Delcarmen (7th) closed out the game for Lexington. O’Rourke walked one and struck out one in his inning of work. Delcarmen gave up two hits but did not allow a run.

This was the second time since 2006 that these two teams met in the semifinals. Lexington swept in 2009 outscoring the Americans 29-3 in three games (the semis were a best of five series). Though the Sox won this year it was a little different. It was not a sweep and the Sox outscored Melrose 21-15. The Americans out hit Lexington 33 to 26.

For the eighth straight season the ICL Finals will be held at Morelli Field in Melrose. First game is scheduled for Monday August 8 with first pitch at 7:45 pm. It will be a rematch of the 2021 finals as Middlesex won its game three 3-0 over Andre to advance. Last season Lexington swept the Expos though game three was played at Victory Field in Watertown due to rain in Melrose.

Written by Bruce Hack, Lexington Media Relations Director

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Melrose – Lexington used a six-run second inning to power its way to a 10-6 win over Melrose Thursday night at Morelli Field.
The victory evened the best of three semifinal series at 1-1. Game three is Friday night in Lexington with first pitch at 8:00 pm.
The first five Blue Sox batters in the second inning reached base via hit or walk with Matt Chatelle closing out the sequence with a three-run home to center, his first in a Blue Sox uniform. Andrew Selima started the rally with a double to right. Cam Meyer, who homered in game one, doubled down the leftfield line and the game was tied at 1-1. Mike Khoury walked, Alex Voitik singled to score Meyer and Chatelle went deep. Americans’ starter Ronnie Luke recorded two outs, but Dom Zaher drove one well over the fence in left for a solo home run and a 6-1 lead. It was Zaher’s third career postseason home run, all which have been hit at Morelli Field.
Lexington starter Robbie Cobb (1-0) benefited from the offensive outbreak. He gave up a first inning run on singles by Pat Costigan, John Jennings and with two outs Aidan Barry who drove in Costigan. Cobb stranded runners in the second and third innings before getting a 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. The fourth was part of six straight Melrose batters set down by Cobb before the Americans final broke through in the fifth.
With one out, Costigan (his second hit) singled, Jennings singled, Bright singled to score Costigan. Jennings scored on a wild pitch and Gianni Zarilli hit a sacrifice fly to right to make it 10-4. Barry’s double ended the night for Cobb. Sean Mahan came in and gave up a single to Scott Searles that scored Barry and it was 10-5.
Cobb pitched 4.2 innings, giving up 9 hits, 5 runs, no walks and three strikeouts. It was the second straight year he pitched in an elimination game for Lexington. He pitched in game three against Andre in last season’s semifinal series and went 4.2 innings, giving up 2 hits, an unearned run and struck out two.
Zaher lead the Blue Sox 11-hit attack by going 4-for-4 with 2 runs, 3 RBI, a double, and home run. He doubled in his only at bat in game one and now has five straight hits in two games.
Lexington added four more runs in the fourth to take a 10-1 lead. The Sox loaded the bases on a walk to Voitik, a single by Jesse McCullough and Ernie Little getting hit by a pitch. With two outs and Zaher at the plate the Blue Sox scored two runs on a ball that didn’t leave the infield. With the runners in motion Zaher hits a one-hop ground ball to short. Zarilli corrals it and throws to second for the third out. Because the runners were in motion with the pitch, Voitik scored easily from third, McCullough scores from second and Little ends up on third as he was past the bag when Melrose made the attempt for the force out. Zaher scores the 10th and final run on an error.
Following Cobb on the hill for Lexington was Sean Mahan, Borja Jones-Berasaluce and Manny Delcarmen. The trio combined to pitch 2.1 innings, giving up one hit, an unearned run, walked and struck out one batter.
Melrose starter Ronnie Luke (0-1) pitched 2 innings giving up 6 hits, 6 runs, walked and struck out one. Christian Loescher and Nick Colucci pitched the final five innings giving up 5 hits, 4 runs, walked 2 and struck out 6.

From the Stat Sheet – The teams combined for 22 hits and 16 runs a night after knocking out 25 hits and scoring 12 runs in game one. The two home runs by Lexington give them 20 home runs in 24 playoff games at Morelli.

Written by Bruce Hack, Lexington Media Relations Director

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Lexington – Melrose opened its semifinal series with a 7-5 road win over Lexington Wednesday night.
Game two of the series is Thursday night in Melrose with a 7:30 pm start time.
Down 4-2 in the top of the fifth the Americans scored three times to take the lead for good at 5-4.
John Jennings doubled to drive in Scott Searles (single) and Pat Costigan (single)to knot the score at 4-4. Jennings gave the Americans the lead when he scored on an RBI single by cleanup hitter Gianni Zarrilli.
Aidan Barry doubled to start the fifth. It was the fifth straight inning the Melrose leadoff hitter begin with a hit and the third time the hit was a double. Barry moved to third on an infield out and came home on a pinch-hit single by David Hunter for a 6-4 lead and an important insurance run.
There were three ties and three lead changes as the teams swapped runs in the first four innings. The second inning was the only one in which neither team scored.
Offense was in big supply as the teams combined for 12 runs, 25 hits, 7 doubles, and a home run. By the end of the third Lexington lead 4-2 and the teams had 15 hits between them.
Americans’ leadoff hits Costigan had three hits on the night and scored three times. He got the night started with a double in the first. Jennings infield single moved him to third and he scored on Cory Bright’s infield out for a 1-0 advantage.
Lexington struck back quickly in its half of the first.
Pete John went the opposite way and singled to left to start off the Blue Sox. Josue Feliciano followed with a bunt single and Julian Alvarez singled through the left side to load the bases with no outs. Andrew Selima delivered with a double to right plating John and Feliciano and it was 2-1 Sox.
The Americans answered in the top of the third. Costigan had a leadoff single and stole second to move into scoring position. With one out, Bright singled through the right side and drove in his second run of the game to tie it at 2-2.
Lexington replied quickly in the bottom of the frame. With 2 outs Selima singled to center. Cam Meyer drove a 3-1 pitch over the center field fence for his first post season home run that give the Blue Sox a 4-2 lead.
After falling behind 6-4 Lexington got within a run with another two-out no one on base rally in the sixth.
Meyer walked and then came all the way around to score on Dom Zaher’s double along the left field line that dropped in amongst the leftfield, shortstop and third baseman.
Melrose pushed the lead back to two runs with a run in the top of the seventh. Jack Beverly led off with a walk, the sixth American to reach base leading off the inning. He went to third on Scott Searles single to right and scored on a sacrifice fly by Hunter, for his second RBI of the game.
Starting pitchers Bobby Tramondozzi (Americans) and Jake Vesling (Blue Sox) took some bruises in the game. In the 10 combined innings pitched, six for Tramondozzi, they gave up 10 runs, 22 hits, walked one and struck out 11.
Tramondozzi earned the win, his first career postseason victory for Melrose. After being tagged for eight hits in the first three innings, he only gave up two over his last three innings. The Americans usual closer walked one and struck out seven.
Nick Colucci pitched a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts for the save.
Vesling took the loss for Lexington, going four innings, 12 hits, 5 runs, no walks and a strikeout.
The Americans win was the first time a #1 seed had lost its opening playoff game since August 8, 2018 when Albrandis beat Lexington 5-2 in game one of the semis.
It was not a good night for the top seeds in the Intercity League playoffs as #2 seed Middlesex lost 6-5 to #3 Andre.
Since 2006 the #1 and #2 seeds had not lost their opening playoff game until Wednesday night.

Written by Bruce Hack, Lexington Blue Sox Director of Media Relations

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ICL fans can now watch both the Chiefs-Expos and Americans-Blue Sox series. All games will be streamed live.

For the Chiefs-Expos series go to:
http://youtube.com/c/LocalSportsProductions

For the Americans-Blue Sox series go to youtube.com and then Blue Sox Baseball Network.

The Melrose Americans beat the Reading Bulldogs 5-2 in the ICL Regular Season final on Sunday at Morelli Field.

With the Melrose win, the Andre Chiefs and Americans finished with identical 12-12-1 records. The first two tiebreakers, number of wins and head to head (the teams were 2-2-1 against each other in 2022) failed to break the tie.

A coinflip was used and the Chiefs won and will receive the #3 seed and face the #2 Middlesex Expos in a best of three series starting on Wednesday.

The #4 Americans will host the #5 Bulldogs in a play-in game on Tuesday at 7:30 PM at Morelli Field. The winner of that game will advance to play the #1 Lexington Blue Sox in Lexington on Wednesday at 8:00 PM.

In the Americans’ 5-2 Sunday win, Mike Peters (1-1) got the victory and Bobby Tramondozzi picked up his third save. Gianni Zarrilli led the way at the plate with a homer and two RBI’s and Nick Longo knocked in two runs. Jack Morin had a solo homer for the Bulldogs.