The boys of Somerville
Alibrandis batters set Yawkey League ablaze
Baseballs are flying all over the City of Ten Hills, as the Somerville Alibrandis are simply raking this summer.
The Alibrandis — the 17-time champions of the Yawkey Baseball League, including the last seven — top the YBL in team batting with a .359 average — 51 points higher than the next best team, the Brighton Braves. Somerville hitters occupy the Nos. 4-7 spots among the top 10 league hitters, with Juan Parra (.406), Bobby Barrett (.403), Teddy Dziuba (.400) and Mike Maguire (. 388). Parra leads the league in hits with 39, while Dziuba (32) and Barrett (26) are Nos. 1-2 in RBI.
It’s all heady stuff with the playoffs looming on the horizon.
“The core of our team returned this year and the veteran players are performing together at the best of our capabilities, better than we have ever done before,” said Dziuba, a former member of the New York Mets organization. “I wish you could see all the texts and emails going back and forth throughout the day. Even though we all have different jobs and other priorities, we’re always talking about baseball. It’s always on our mind.”
The 32-year-old Dziuba, who played Babson, can never get enough baseball and was scheduled this weekend to play for the Braintree White Sox in the Cranberry League in the Stan Musial World Series in Waterbury, Conn.
Dziuba said the Alibrandis have yet to string together all the pieces.
“We lost a lot of pitching during the offseason. One guy retired and another guy moved away, so we’re still trying to piece together a rotation,” said Dziuba.
Intercity battle
Over in the Intercity League, a pair of familiar stalwarts are battling tooth-and-nail for the regular season title — the Andre Chiefs (17-6-0), winners of four of their last five games, and the Lexington Blue Sox (16-51), victors in eight straight.
The past week featured a smorgasbord of quality pitching and big blasts. The Wakefield Merchants outlasted the Melrose Americans, 15-11, with Dillon Koster (home run, two doubles, four RBI) and Mike Sorrentino banging out four hits each for the winners.
At Endicott College Field, old standby Jared Freni of Andre fanned 10 in a four-hit gem as the Chiefs beat the Reading Bulldogs, 6-1. Johnny Welch clubbed a solo shot for the victors.
The Watertown Reds and Somerville Royals split a doubleheader with Sean Cameron’s grand slam the difference for the Royals in Game 1, and Will Brennan’s pair of blasts carried the Reds in the nitecap.
Lexington rode the pitching of right-hander Ryan Filipowicz to a 9-1 win over Merchants, and Alex Voitik homered for a third straight game.
BPL duels
The Boston Park League recently featured a couple of nifty pitching efforts. Grossman Marketing beat Padres, 7-2, as righty Leo Coelho (five innings, three hits, eight strikeouts) and lefty Andrew Rutkiewicz (five innings, one earned run, two strikeouts) locked horns. Grossman was led by Pete Cimini, who went 4-for-4, while Matt Levasseur chipped in three hits.
TJO Sports took advantage of five Cannon errors to record an 8-1 win, as Jamie Timothy was 2-for-5 with four RBI.
League-leading ADSL and TJO Sports hooked up in a dandy, with TJO prevailing, 5-2, behind Dave Long’s seven innings of work. The lefty allowed three hits and struck out six. ADSL southpaw CJ Golbranson (nine strikeouts) took the hard-luck loss.