By STEPHEN MARTELLUCCI

MALDEN — The season came to an end for the Melrose Americans baseball team on Aug. 8 as they lost to the Andre Chiefs, 13-7, at Maplewood Park in Malden.

With the win, the Chiefs swept the best-of-five semifinal playoff series 3-0 as they are now playing the Lexington Blue Sox for the Intercity League title.

The Chiefs, who are the defending league champions, got three RBI’s each from Byron Woodman, Teddy Dziuba, and Anthony Perry in Game 3.

Andre never looked back after Woodman blasted a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning scoring Dziuba and Mitchell Schroeder, who had both singled ahead of him.

Aidan Barry’s RBI single, off Chiefs’ starter Evan Walsh, cut the lead to 3-1 in the top of the second.

The Chiefs, however, put up three more runs and took a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI single from Tyler Ferdinand and a two-run double from Dziuba.

Chris Klein’s RBI ground-out made it a 6-2 game in the top of third.

It became a 12-2 advantage when the Chiefs plated six more in the bottom of the third inning on singles from Woodman, Nate Witkowski, Perry (2 RBI), a Dziuba sacrifice fly and a Schroeder double.

The Americans made things interesting later on as they cut the lead to 12-7 when they put up a couple of runs in the top of the fifth and then added three more in the sixth.

The Chiefs scored the game’s final run in the bottom of the sixth to account for the 13-7 score.

Chris Klein (2 for 4) led the Melrose 14-hit offense with three RBI. Shawn Nestor (2 for 4), Jackson Powers (2 for 4), Ian Libby (2 for 4) and Tad Giardina (2 for 3 with a walk) were the team’s other multiple hitters.

Andre starter, Evan Walsh, went five innings to record the win. The southpaw gave up nine hits and struck out three.

Brandon McMahon went two innings and took the loss to fall to 4-2. He gave up six runs, five hits, two walks and he did not strike anybody out.

“He injured his ankle,” pointed out Americans manager Kevin Burgoyne. “He finished the second inning but we then pulled him, even though he wanted to continue.”

Burgoyne also gave the Chiefs offense credit.

“They hit the ball very well,” he said.

The second-seeded Chiefs entered the finals with an overall record of 22-6. Meanwhile, the third-seeded Americans finished the 2024 campaign with an overall record of 16-10-1.

In game two of the series on Aug. 7, the Americans lost, 7-2, also at Maplewood, although the Americans were the home team since Morelli Field was flooded and could not be used.

Leading, 1-0, the Chiefs broke the game open in the top of the fourth plating six runs.

Ruben Rodriguez, Jr (single), Joe Bova (RBI, double), Nick Valdario (RBI, sacrifice fly), Tyler Ferdinand (single), and Miles Reid (RBI, single) did the damage that inning.

Melrose scored single runs in the fourth and sixth innings.

Nestor had a sacrifice fly in the sixth while the run in the fourth was on an error.

The Americans had six hits overall with no multiple hitters.

“That big inning killed us,” admitted Burgoyne. “We also did not hit well.”

Starter Nick Colucci was the losing pitcher going 4.2 innings. He gave up seven runs, eight hits, two walks and he fanned four as he finished the year at 3-3.

In the opening game on Aug. 6, also at Maplewood, the Americans were shut out, 4-0.

Melrose avoided being no-hit with two outs in the seventh as John Jennings singled off Silas Reed for the team’s lone knock of the evening.

Reed then got the next hitter out to end the game. He walked two and struck out 10 Americans hitters.

“He is the league pitcher of the year,” stated Burgoyne, about Reed who plays at Tufts. “He had a very good slider.”

The Chiefs scored two runs in the bottom of the fourth on consecutive RBI singles from Witkowski and Ferdinand.

In the bottom of the sixth, Reed’s two out, two RBI double to right-center accounted for the other two runs.

Mike Nestor was the losing pitcher falling to 4-2 as he went all six frames. He gave up four runs, six hits, five walks and he struck out eight.

“Overall, we just didn’t have enough pitching,” said Burgoyne, about the series. “We had a small bullpen and our starters had to stay in the game for too long.”