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Blue Army Plate Five in Ninth for Wild Win.

A match between two Southern Section rivals that to all appearances was done after the top of the fourth innings turned around for the home team and demonstrated once again that baseball is not a game in which the winner can be conclusively determined at any moment before the last out is taken.

This was the case at Fratton Park in Portsmouth as the home side Blue Army confronted the Robins of Swindon Town. Each club had nary a chance to advance to the Second Division coming into the match, with Swindon in the third place eight lengths down to the strong Northampton Town club, and Portsmouth one place and length behind the Robins. About 1,100 diehard Blue Army supporters showed up for the two o’clock start, and before the hour struck three most had fled, given that Swindon has just scored six in the top of the fourth for a lead of 11 runs to three. Portsmouth fought back, though, with three runs, then two, then one across the next three frames to cut their deficit to two. Swindon Town put two on the scoreboard in the eighth and carried a firm four runs advantage into the bottom of the ninth innings.

Pitcher McMillan, who had relieved starter Gardner in the sixth after the latter conceded Portsmouth’s nine thus far, yielded sharp singles to MacDonald and Davies to start the ninth. Clearly rattled, McMillan allowed Wright to walk to first on four pitches. The Sub batsman Harris worked to a count of two and two before slapping a single to right field, scoring MacDonald and Davies. After inducing a short fly ball out from Brien, McMillan laid in a very “fat” first pitch which Morley clocked for a threebee and two more runs to draw level with Swindon Town at 13. The remaining three or so hundred full-throated fans sounded more like three thousand as Geary, whose run would mean nothing, was walked intentionally to set up the ground ball double play out. Instead Ruff hit the ball in the air to the outfield, alas too shallow to score Morley once taken for the out. But Alcock rendered the strategy moot as he made an infield single to score Morley and hand the victory and the levelling for the third place to Portsmouth. With the Northampton win, both clubs now stand nine games behind the leaders with only ten to play, and with Birmingham sitting in between. A miracle would need to occur to lift either of yesterday’s protagonists into the promotion position, but this is British baseball, and anything can happen.