2024 Intercity League Champions – Andre Chiefs
Chiefs Get Wednesday Win as ICL Heads to Fourth of July Break
INTERCITY LEAGUE NEWS & NOTES
Baptista Gives Chiefs 5-4 Walk-Off Win Over Blue Sox
The Andre Chiefs scored three times in the bottom of the seventh inning to come away with a 5-4 walk-off win over the Lexington Blue Sox on Wednesday night at Maplewood. The game was tied at 2-2 when a 27 minute rain delay stopped play in the top of the third inning. After play resumed, Jake Elbeery’s two RBI single in the fifth gave the Blue Sox a 4-2 lead. Facing a two run hole in their last at bat, the Chiefs scored three times to take the win. Tyler Ferdinand got things started when he drew a walk from Sox reliever Dawy LeBron and Nick Valdario singled to center. After two unsuccessful bunt attempts both runners moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Number nine hitter Cam Cinelli then singled to center, scoring Ferdinand, to cut the lead to 4-3. Juan Parra was next up and he singled to load the bases with nobody out. Miles Reid followed and tied things up at 4-4 with a single to center, scoring Valdario, and leaving the bases loaded with still nobody out. LeBron settled in and struck out Teddy Dziuba and Andrew Caulfield in succession to set the stage for John Baptista who singled sharply to left to score Cinelli with the game winner. Cameron Breault (1-0) picked up the win for the Chiefs, working a scoreless top of the seventh, in relief of starter Evan Walsh (5 innings, 8 hits, 5 K’s) and A.J. Rourke (1 inning, 1 K). LeBron (0-1) took the loss. Lexington starter Chris Winant went four solid innings with three K’s before giving way to lefty Ryan O’Rourke who allowed two hits and struck out a batter in his two scoreless innings. Austin Masel and Julian Alvarez each had RBI’s for the Blue Sox in the first and second innings. Baptista and shortstop Nate Witkowski added RBI singles for the Chiefs in their two run first inning. The Malden Maddogs-Melrose Americans game at Morelli Field was rained out. On Thursday, the Chiefs travel to Lexington to meet the Bulldogs at 7:00 PM and the Sabertooth Expos host the Americans at Maplewood at 8:00 PM.
Malden’s Rob Carrillo no-hits the Blue Sox, wins 4-1
By Bruce Hack, Lexington Media Relations Director Malden – Rob Carrillo (UMass Dartmouth) pitched the first no-hitter of the 2023 season and gave the Maddogs their first win of the season in a 4-1 victory over Lexington Blue Sox at Maplewood Park Tuesday night. Carrillo in his first Intercity League no-no got more efficient as the game went on. He had thrown 72 pitches through the first four innings, but only needed 22 more over the final three frames to close out the game. He retired the Blue Sox in order in the second and fifth innings but dealt with runners on in the other five innings and stranded five runners. Carrillo finished with four walks, six strikeouts, two hit batters and two wild pitches. “Rob is definitely our guy.” stated Maddogs manager Henry Butterfield III. “He has become our Tuesday night starter” The no-hitter was Malden’s first in the ICL. It was also the first time the Blue Sox had been no hit in 28 years of play in the ICL. The linescore was a little odd through the first five innings. For Lexington it read 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors. For Malden it was 0 runs, 1 hit, 1 error. The sixth inning saw a dramatic change. The Blue Sox brought in Eric Lopes, their third pitcher of the night. He walked Ben Croteau to start off the inning. Hector Roman Jr. reached on a bunt single, for the second hit of the game, and a throwing error by Sox third baseman Dylan Walsh placed Maddogs on second and third with no outs. On a 3-2 pitch Lopes hit leadoff hitter Quinton Copeland to load the bases with no outs. Lopes then hit Matt Travisano on a 3-2 pitch and the game was tied at 1-1. A walk to Derek Bauer brought in Roman and Malden had taken a 2-1 lead. Lopes was replaced by Anthony Piscitello, making his first appearance on the mound for Lexington. Chris Auferio greeted Piscitello with a fly ball to right that was deep enough to score Copeland with the third run of the inning. The final run scored when Bauer and Travisano pulled off a double steal as the Sox throw home was late and Travisano slid across the plate for a 4-1 lead. Carrillo walked pinch hitter Aidan Driscoll to start the seventh and there was hope for Blue Sox fans. Unfortunately he induced Pat Casserly into a 4-6-3 double play to quickly get two outs. Nate Wolf grounded out to first to close out the game. Butterfield said “I realized in the fifth that Carrillo was throwing a no-hitter.” As often happens in a no-hitter two big defensive plays helped out Carrillo. In the third shortstop Damian Brown went into the hole and throw out Anderson Jimenez. In the fifth second baseman Travisano made a diving stop of a Dylan Walsh’s attempt at the first Blue Sox hit. Travisano got up and throw out Walsh to end the inning. Lexington’s only run came in the first. John Fritz walked to lead off the inning. He took off on the 3-1 pitch to Jimenez, thus staying out of the double play, as Jimenez grounded out to shortstop. A wild pitch moved Fritz to third and he scored on Julian Alvarez’ ground out to second. Jack Swarbrick made his first start for Lexington and pitched two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit and struck out one. Pat McGowan followed with three no-hit, no-run innings. He walked two and struck out three. In Tuesday’s other game, Andrew Mazzone’s fifth inning grand slam erased a 5-3 Lexington Bulldogs lead to help propel the Sabertooth Expos to an 8-7 win in Lexington. Jairo Vasquez (1-0) worked 2.1 innings in relief of starter Zach Kirby to get the win. Vasquez struck out seven batters, Max Garner hit his first homer of the season for the Bulldogs. On Wednesday, the Maddogs visit the Melrose Americans at Morelli Field at 7:00 PM and the Blue Sox and Andre Chiefs meet at Maplewood starting at 8:00 PM.
Blue Sox Over Bulldogs, Americans Edge Chiefs
The Lexington Blue Sox turned around a 7-1 fourth inning deficit, and then scored three times in the bottom of the seventh, to come away with an exciting 9-8 win over the Lexington Bulldogs on Monday night. Jean Carlos Ramirez’ 2-run homer, with nobody out, provided the tying and winning runs. Branden Walsh started off the seventh with a bunt single, took second on an errant pickoff throw, and went to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Pat Casserly’s RBI single that cut the lead to 8-7. Ramirez then turned around a belt high fastball to deliver the 9-8 walk-off. The Bulldogs took a 7-1 lead after four innings thanks to the bats of Ryan Boyle and John Nordman. Boyle had four hits, a run, two RBI, and a double and triple. Nordman added four hits, two runs, an RBI and a double. Kiernan Keller (1-0) earned his first win for the Blue Sox. At Maplewood, the Melrose Americans scored all of their runs in the top of the third inning and then held off the Andre Chiefs to come away with a 6-5 win. The Chiefs led 1-0 heading into the third before the Americans took a 6-1 lead. Ian Libby’s bases clearing double and RBI’s from Owen Duncan and Noah Jankowski keyed the big inning. The Chiefs answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to cut the margin to 6-5 but Melrose relievers Will Gindel (1-0), Nick Colucci, and Bobby Tramdondozzi (S, 2) blanked the Chiefs over the final four innings. Shawn Nestor and Pat Costigan added two hits each for the Americans while Teddy Dziuba had three hits, including a double, for the Chiefs. Tim Dunphy (2-2) took the loss. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs host the first place Sabertooth Expos in Lexington at 7:00 PM and the Americans return to Maplewood to visit the Malden Maddogs at 8:00 PM.
Blue Sox 8 Run 6th Inning Leads to 9-0 Win Over Americans
The Lexington Blue Sox used their biggest inning of the season to turn a pitcher’s duel into a rout, as they blanked Melrose Americans 9-0 Sunday afternoon at Morelli Field. Austin Masel’s 3-run triple and Craig Corliss’ 3-run HR were the big hits in the eight run sixth inning. Corliss also drove in the Blue Sox first run in the fifth with a single that scored Nate Wolf. The Lexington pitching trio of Steven Bangs (4 innings), Drew McGowan (2 innings) and Ryan O’Rourke (1 inning) limited the Americans to three hits. Bangs (3-0) picked up the win. Pat Costigan, Shawn Nestor and Will Hunter had the Melrose hits. Greg Johnson (0-1) took the loss in relief of starter Ben Gottesman. On Monday the Americans travel to Maplewood to meet the Andre Chiefs and it is an all Lexington battle at LHS when the Blue Sox and Bulldogs hook up. Both games will start at 8:00 PM.