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SPORTSMAN’S CRACKS 9 EXTRA-BASE HITS IN WILD WIN
HOSTS FINISH WITH 26 HITS WHILE FOUR SPORTSMAN’S BATTERS COLLECT 4 OR MORE

FALL RIVER, MASS. (May 19, 1866) – The previous contest of note in the N.B.B.O. involved a big lack of offense from one of the teams involved. In contrast, Saturday afternoon’s game between Reading & Sportsman’s was quite the opposite:

The hosts were all action in this one, finishing with 20+ runs, 20+ hits, and 10+ errors – nobody was cheated out of the dimes they left at the turnstiles in Fall River as Sportsman’s both battered Reading and tried to help them stay in the contest. Sportsman’s pounded out no less than nine extra-base hits – eight doubles and a triple – as rallies in the early & late innings secured an eight-run win over a Reading side that could not match Sportsman’s firepower.

Reading managed to come back from an 8-1 deficit after the 2nd inning to draw level by the mid-4th and they took the lead with another rally in the 6th, but Sportsman’s won the game with a dozen unanswered runs over their last three times to bat.

Reading Athletic finished with sixteen hits, but with Sportsman’s collecting 26 during the course of the afternoon it is no surprise that the players of the game all came from the victors. Four Sportsman’s batsmen finished the game with four or more base hits: LF Julius Bailey, 1B Jesse Beaver, 2B Jonathan DeAndrea, & CF Doc Matheson. Five batsmen – the previous four plus RF Paul Kronenberg – had three or more R.B.I. Of the five, it was Beaver’s efforts that led the way:

BEAVER

• B1: 1-run Double to RCF off C. Hartmann[/B]
• B2: 1-run Single to CF off C. Hartmann[/B]
• B4: Infield Single b/w C & P off C. Perkins[/B]
• B6: Ground Out to 1B off C. Perkins[/B]
• B7: 1-run Single past SS off C. Zier (scored)[/B]
• B8: Double to LF off C. Zier (scored)[/B]
• TOTAL: 5/6, 2 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 7 TB[/B]

The 21 runs & 26 hits were both season highs for Sportsman’s, and the five-hit outburst raised Jesse Beaver’s average to .490 over thirteen games played. Sportsman’s currently leads the N.E.L. in Batting Average, On-Base, Slugging, & O.P.S thanks to a lineup full of high-contact batsmen who are also plenty capable of finding the gaps in the outfield with batted balls. They are only 6-8, but that kind of attack should bode well for their record over the rest of the season, if it holds up.