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F.C. VS NIAGARA HAS 18 RUNS IN 8TH INNING!
NEW RECORD FOR COMBINED RUNS IN AN INNING; GAME ENDS 17-14

BUFFALO, N.Y. (July 10, 1861) – Many of the National Base Ball Organization’s wildest games this season have taken place in the Upstate New York Championship, and the contest between Flour City and Niagara B.B.C. in the Greater New York Sporting Grounds on Wednesday afternoon was no different:

The first three innings of the contest certainly did not indicate that anything extraordinary would occur, as Niagara exited with a 3-1 lead thanks to single runs in each inning. The action heated up in the middle innings, with the hosts scoring seven times between the fifth & sixth to take a 10-3 lead going into the latter stages of the game. That was when the proceedings really went off the rails.

After a scoreless seventh inning, Flour City stepped to the plate for the top of the eighth and saw each of their first seven batsmen reach base safely – six via hits and one via error. Before their turn at bat was finished F.C. had scored eleven times on ten hits, turning a 10-3 deficit into a 14-11 lead. Niagara came up to bat under an unexpected load of pressure and proceeded to put their first six batsmen on base before an out. Before their half of the eighth was done they scored seven times on six hits and three F.C. errors, taking a 17-14 lead before holding F.C. to a 1-2-3 ninth and taking a memorable win.

The eighteen runs scored in the eighth marked a new N.B.B.O. for combined runs in an inning, and unsurprisingly there were a number of star batsmen. F.C. left fielder Frederick Skinner was 4/5 with a double & three RBI, while first baseman Thomas Branagh was 3/4 with four runs scored and right fielder James Hoyt scored three times. For the home side, Niagara outfielder Arvi Hämäläinen was 5/5 with a pair of doubles, three runs, & three RBI while first baseman Karol de Bruijn was 3/4 and scored four runs.

It has been quite a year in the Upstate Championship, and today’s game was yet more evidence of it.