Chiefs End Homestand in 1st Place
DiCato, DeCarlo Pitch Chiefs to 4-2 Win Over Reading Bulldogs Friday
The Andre Chiefs concluded their four game homestand with a brisk 4-2 win over the expansion Reading Bulldogs on Friday night at Tufts University.
Starter and winner Mike DiCato got the Bulldogs’ side in order in the top of the first inning, including two strikeouts, and his mates went right to work with the bats in the home half of the inning.
Reading right-hander Dan Eisenberg of Tufts University hit leadoff batter Bob McCarthy with a pitch. Mike Baillargeon followed with a single just inside the third base bag to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Mike Gedman’s grounder forced Baillargeon at second and left runners on the corners with one out. Cleanup man Peter Copa was next and his RBI grounder to short scored McCarthy to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Justin Crisafulli was next up and drew a two out walk. Mike Andre then lined an Eisenberg pitch to right, scoring Gedman to up the lead to 2-0. Eisenberg got Matt Anderson to ground sharply to third baseman T.J. Murphy to end the inning.
Reading got a two out single from Kevin O’Leary in the top of the second and Eisenberg settled down and retired the Chiefs in order in the bottom of the inning.
The Bulldogs cut the lead in half in the top of the third and threatened for more. Bill Cataldo got things started with a line single to center. Joe Harvey then bounced to Andre at third base with Cataldo taking second. DiCato struck out Endicott’s Mike Russo swinging for the second out. DiCato uncharacteristically walked Steve Buitkus and Alex Fischer in succession to load the bases. Andrew Bishop of Williams College followed and got Reading on the board when he chopped an infield single between DiCato and Baillargeon at short. DiCato preserved the Chiefs’ 2-1 lead when he struck out St. Anselm’s T.J. Murphy with the bases juiced to end the threat.
Eisenberg got the Chiefs 1-2-3 again in the bottom of the third.
The Bulldogs made some noise in the fourth when DiCato hit O’Leary with a pitch to start the inning. Catcher John Halsey then drilled a liner right at Tony Deshler in centerfield with O’Leary running on the pitch. Deshler made the catch and threw a strike to Anderson at first to double up O’Leary. Cataldo then singled again but the inning ended when Harvey grounded out to Mike Barbati at second base.
Nothing doing for the Chiefs in the bottom of the fourth as Eisenberg got the side in order for the third straight time.
DiCato started strong in the fifth by striking out Russo and Buitkus before walking Fischer. The game moved to the bottom of the fifth when Bishop grounded out to Baillargeon to end the inning.
The Chiefs picked up a much needed run in the bottom of the fifth. Consecutive singles from Barbati and Deshler ended Eisenberg’s night as Reading Manager Matt Morrison brought in former Chief and Malden Catholic lefty Chris Labriola of Central Florida. McCarthy greeted his ex-batterymate with a RBI single to left, scoring Barbati and giving the Chiefs a 3-1 lead. Labriola averted further trouble when he got Baillargeon to fly to the warning track in straight-away center, Gedman to ground out and ended the inning when Russo made a nice running grab of a Copa shot to the left-centerfield gap.
Southpaw Jeff DeCarlo spelled DiCato to start the sixth and immediately got into trouble when Murphy singled to left and O’Leary delivered a check swing single to right. Halsey then moved both runners into scoring position with a well placed sacrifice bunt. With the red hot Cataldo at the plate, DeCarlo threw a wild pitch that allowed Murphy to score and chop the lead to 3-2, while sending O’Leary to third, representing the tying run. With the Chiefs’ infield drawn in, Andre turned in the defensive gem of the night when he snagged Cataldo’s liner that was labeled for the left field corner for the second out. DeCarlo left O’Leary stranded ninety feet away when he came up big and struck out Harvey to end the inning.
The Chiefs responded by adding an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. Veteran Justin Crisafulli led off with hit number 497 of his Chiefs career and Brandeis’ Eric Rosenberg came on to pinch run for him. Andre followed with his second hit of the night, a single to right field, that pushed Rosenberg to second. Anderson then moved Rosenberg and Andre each up a base with a sacrifice bunt. Labriola then caught Barbati looking on a full count outside corner fastball for the inning’s second out. Deshler was next and he legged out an infield single to the shortstop hole, scoring his Brandeis teammate Rosenberg with the fourth Chiefs run. Labriola got McCarthy to fly out to center to close the inning and send the game to the seventh.
DeCarlo got Russo on a comebacker to the mound, Buitkus on a grounder to Barbati at second and then struck out Fischer looking to end the game and chalk up his first save of the season.
DiCato (2-0), who recorded his second win of the year to go along with a couple of saves, struck out seven and allowed four hits in his 76 pitch, five inning outing.
The Chief enjoy an off day on Saturday and will travel to Walsh Field at Wakefield High School to visit the Merchants on Sunday at 5:00 PM.
Pictured above (top to bottom): Andre, DiCato, and DeCarlo. Courtesy photos.
Information from www.andrechiefs.com and www.intercityleaguebaseball.com