2025 Intercity League Champions – Lexington Blue Sox
Blue Sox Sweep Bulldogs to Take 2025 Championship
INTERCITY LEAGUE NEWS & NOTES
Alibrandis edges Lexington 2-1 moves to within one win of reaching finals
Lexington – Veterans Teddy Dziuba and David Lightbody drove in runs in the fifth inning to give the Alibrandis a 2-1 lead. A lead they hung onto and won game three of the best of five semifinals 2-1 to take a 2-1 lead in the series. The win puts the Alibrandis one win away from going to the Intercity League finals in their inaugural season in the ICL. The fifth inning started with Lexington up 1-0. Matt Henrickson singled to left to start the rally. Hendrickson advanced to second on a sacrifice by Mark Addesa and went to third when Juan Parra reached on an error. Mike Maguire followed with a single through the right side and Hendrickson tried to score from second only to be thrown out at home by right fielder Aaron Barbosa for the second out of the inning. The next batter, Dziuba, singled to right on the first pitch he saw, to drive in Parra. Player-manager Lightbody singled to center on a 1-0 pitch to drive in Maguire and it was 2-1 Alibrandis. Lexington had taken the lead in the bottom of the fourth, the earliest in the series the Blue Sox had scored. With two outs Justin Silvestro reached on an infield single. Thomas Russo walked, the fifth of the game for the Sox, and there were runners on first and second. Barbosa singled to left on the 11 pitch of his at bat to drive in Silvestro for the 1-0 lead. Mike Geanellis (0-1) took the loss for Lexington, but pitched well enough to win if his offense had been able to deliver. He scattered seven hits, walked none and struck out four in five innings of work. Lew Jensen (1-0) earned the win for the Alibrandis pitching five innings, giving up four hits, a run, walked six, and struck out four. None of the six Blue Sox he walked scored. He stranded runners at first and second in the second, third, and fourth innings. Chris Costa pitched the last two innings for the save. He struck out four. Dziuba, Lightbody, and Maguire each had two hits for Alibrandis The two teams return to Maplewood Field at Malden Catholic for an 8:00 pm contest Monday night. The Alibrandis look to close out the series and advance to the finals. The Blue Sox hope to continue the visiting team winning every game and extend the series to a fifth game.
Pivotal Sunday Games on Tap in Both Semi-Final Series
The biggest Sunday of the 2018 season looms when the pivotal third game of both semi-final series will be played today. Both best of five series are tied 1-1. The Wakefield Merchants host the Watertown Reds at Walsh Field in Wakefield at 3:00 PM, The Merchants took the opening game 7-5 and the Reds rebounded with a 16-3 win on Friday night. The Albrandis-Lexington Blue Sox series continues tonight in Lexington at 8:00 PM. Alibrandis took game one in Lexington 5-2 and the Blue Sox took a 6-0 shutout win in game two. Game four of both series will be played on Monday night at 8:00 PM. The Lexington-Albrandis game will be at Maplewood/Malden Catholic while Wakefield and Watertown will meet at Morelli Field in Melrose. If a game five is needed in either series it will be played on Tuesday night.
Reds Take 16-3 Win to Even Series with Merchants
The Watertown Reds evened their series with the Wakefield Merchants in convincing fashion, scoring 10 times in the bottom of the fourth inning and going on to a 16-3 win at Victory Field. Will Breenan led the way at the plate with a homer, triple, four hits, and four RBI’s. Jake Miller, Dan Chaisson and Logan Gillis all hit home runs for Watertown who broke out with a 17 hit attack. Nate Espelin went five innings to pick up his second win of the postseason. Game three of the series will be played at Walsh Field in Wakefield on Sunday at 3:00 PM.
Lexington evens series at 1-1 with 6-0 win Friday night
Malden – Dan Graham scored from third on Dorian Rojas’ infield out in the top of the sixth with the only run Lexington would need as the Blue Sox blanked Alibrandis 6-0 to knot their semifinal series at 1-1. Through five innings the game was 0-0 as both teams had opportunities, but could not deliver. The teams combined for seven hits, seven walks and stranded 15 base runners through the first five innings. Lexington starter, Drew Leenhouts, left bases loaded with two outs in the third, a runner at second in the fourth and came out in the fifth with two outs and runners on first and second. Manny Delcarmen came in out of the pen to shut down the threat. He gave up an infield single to load the bases then got the final out on a fielder’s choice. Brian Tanguy, who started for Alibrandis, walked two batters in the first and stranded them and then did the same thing in the fifth. He gave up one hit, a Thomas Russo single in the second, through the first four innings. In the fifth singles by Jeff Vigurs and Taylor Ferguson placed Blue Sox on the corners with two out, but again Tanguy left them on base. Graham started the sixth with a sharp single to left, that prompted Alibrandis to remove Tanguy after throwing a 109 pitches. Julian Alvarez greeted relief pitcher James Cramphin with a single up the middle and the Sox had runners at first and second. Pinch-hitter Morgan Brown delivered a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position with one out. Graham broke for home on contact and scored what turned out to be the winning run on Rojas chopper to the right side. Dom Zaher followed with his second straight RBI single (he had one in his only at bat on Friday) to make it 2-0. In the top of the seventh the Blue Sox loaded the bases on a double by Ferguson, a fielders choice and a walk. Alibrandis again went to the bullpen bringing in Bryan Safelle to face Brown. On an 1-0 pitch Brown drove the ball down the left field line and clanged it off the flagpole well above the fence for a grand slam home run and a 6-0 lead. Alibrandis had at least one base runner in every inning but the first, but was unable to get the big hit as Leenhouts, Delcarmen and Nick Godfroy combined on the five hit shutout. The trio of Sox hurlers combined for eight strike outs and left nine runners stranded, included six in scoring position. The series returns to Lexington on Sunday night with an 8:00 pm start at Lexington High School’s Center One field.