Intercity League wins Amateur Baseball Classic for second time

Three Merchants All-Stars contributed to the circuit’s success

Published in the July 14, 2015

BROCKTON — The Intercity League became the first circuit to win the Eastern Mass. Amateur Baseball Classic twice with a 6-3 win over the Yawkey League Sunday evening at Brockton’s Campanelli Stadium.

The ICL won the inaugural title in 2012 with a 5-2 win over the Boston Park League and a 6-5 win over the Cranberry League at Lexington High School. This time the offense was in high gear as the ICLers had a record-setting 14-2 win over the Park League in the first round and then took home the championship with the 6-3 win over the Yawkey team.

This was the team’s first appearance in the championship game since 2012. In the four years’ of the tournament the ICL is now 4-2.

Representing the Wakefield Merchants were Bobby Losanno, Scott Searles and Jarrord Marchesi.

In the final against the Yawkey League All-Stars, Losanno had two at bats, had a hit and scored a run. Searles went 0-for-2 in that game.

In the first game against the BPL, Losanno had two hits in two at bats, while Searles went 0-for-2.

Marchesi pitched two innings in that game and gave up no runs on four hits while striking out one. He faced nine batters over the two frames.

The final game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the seventh when the ICL exploded for five runs, its second five-run inning of the day. Mike Barbati (Andre Chiefs) had the big hit, a two-run single that gave his All-Star teammates a 5-1 lead. The first two runs in the inning came on throwing errors by Yawkey League pitcher Brian Tanguy. Barbati scored the fifth run on an infield out by Mike Addesa (Melrose Americans) for the 6-1 lead.

Somerville pitcher Jonathan Richard earned the win with two innings of hitless work. He walked two and struck out one.

In a bit of irony it was a member of the Somerville Alibrandis for the Yawkey League that took the loss as Tanguy gave up five runs, one earned and five hits in his inning of work.

In the Intercity League’s first game, the team scored a near-record 14 runs, most by an ICL team in the four years of the event. The ICL squad set an tournament single-game record with 19 hits as 12 different players had a hit, seven of them with two hits. The 14 runs is the second most scored in a game in the tourney. The Yawkey League holds the record with 15 runs scored in a 15-10 win over the Park League in 2013.

Lexington’s Dan Graham shared tournament MVP honors with Freddie Carrera of the Yawkey League. Graham was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored in the first game. His two-run single in the third inning gave the ICL the lead for good at 2-1. He also drove in a run in the fourth inning.

Carrera of the Al Thomas Athletics team was 6-for-10 on the day, including four hits in the Yawkey League’s 4-3 win over the Cranberry League in the first game of the day. In that first game Carrera singled in the winning run in the eighth. He also stole three bases and scored a run.

All three games featured good baseball and entertained the crowds all day long. In the fourth year of the event, that features the best players from the four Greater Boston amateur baseball leagues once again displayed the best baseball talent in Eastern Massachusetts.

Thanks were give to  Joe Paolucci of the Cranberry League, Walt Bentson of the Park League, Rick DeAngelis of the Intercity League and Dave McKay of the Yawkey League for all their hard work that helped the event a success once again. All four leagues thank the Brockton Rox for hosting the event and all the fans that came out and watched a great day of amateur baseball.