Andre Chiefs Head to ICL Baseball Championships
Tim Dunphy (pictured at right) won his third game of the 2011 postseason to lead the Chiefs to a 5-3 win over the Merchants in the decisive fifth game of their best of five series on Sunday at Walsh Field.The Chiefs now head to the Intercity League’s Championship Series and await the winner of the Reading-Lexington series which will conclude with their fifth game on Monday.
For the Hosmer-Andre Chiefs franchise, the 2011 finals will be their 24th appearance in either the Suburban Twi-League or ICL Championship Series since 1960. They have won seventeen championships.
The Chiefs won the first two games of the series 6-3 and 4-1 on Wednesday and Thursday before the Merchants came back with a 6-2 win on Friday night and a 3-0 win on Saturday afternoon to even the series.
Dunphy was masterful on Sunday, taking a shutout into the seventh inning, before the Merchants refused to go quietly, scoring three unearned runs. The former Brandeis University and Cassell Club standout, who pitched professionally in Europe in 2007, is now a perfect 3-0 in the playoffs and 7-1-1 overall this season.
The game was a scoreless battle between Dunphy and Merchants’ veteran starter Kevin Flight over the first two innings before the Chiefs broke through for a run in the top of the third inning. Mike Barbati led off the inning with a single but was forced out at second on Matt Boleski’s unsuccessful sacrifice bunt attempt. Nick Leva was next and he grounded out to short with Boleski being forced at second. Jeff Bercume and Mike Baillargeon followed with consecutive singles to load the bases. The Chiefs got the first run of the game when Flight hit Vinny Pennell with a pitch to force in Leva to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Flight escaped further damage when he got Justin Crisafulli to ground out to Dom Sorrentino at second base.
It stayed 1-0 Chiefs until the top of the sixth inning. After Crisafulli flew to center for the first out, Mike Andre doubled to right. Andre pulled up a bit lame at second and Paul Yanakopulos came on to pinch run for him. Conar Mahon came on in relief of Flight and Mike DiCato greeted him with a long triple to right-center, scoring Yanakopulos, to make it a 2-0 game. Barbati followed with an RBI single to left, scoring DiCato, to run the lead to 3-0.
Dunphy cruised through the bottom of the sixth and the Chiefs made it 5-0 in the top of the seventh. Bercume singled deep into the shortstop hole and when the throw to first was low, he went to second. Baillargeon drew a walk and Pennell reached on an infield error to load the bases. Crisafulli gave the Chiefs some more breathing room when he drilled a single to left, scoring Bercume and Baillargeon, to make it 5-0. Colin Quirk came on for Mahon and kept it a five run game when he got Yanakopulos and DiCato to both fly out, walked Barbati to load the bases, but struck out Boleski to end the inning.
The Merchants made some one out noise in the bottom of the seventh. Dunphy got Crispin to fly to Pennell in left for the first out. Joe Papa, pinch hitting for Bobby Losanno, then hit a long fly to right-center that was dropped for an error. Dom Sorrentino followed and grounded to DiCato at firstbase for the second out of the inning. Brooks Townsend then broke up Dunphy’s shutout bid with a line single to center, scoring Papa, to make it 5-1. Scott Searles then doubled deep to left-center scoring Townsend to cut the lead to 5-2. Things got a little tighter when Mike Sorrentino singled, scoring Searles to make it 5-3. That was as close as the Merchants’ got as Dunphy got Jason Roth to ground to Barbati at second base to end the game and propel the Chiefs to the ICL finals.
Reading knotted up their series at 2-2 with Lexington with a 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon in Reading. Game Five of that series will be played on Monday night at 8:00 PM at Lexington High School.
The ICL’s best of five Championship Series is expected to begin on Wednesday.
– Information from Andre Chiefs