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ST. JOHN’S 5 FOR 5 vs GRANITE; BACK IN 1ST
PROVIDENCE TEAM WON ALL FIVE GAMES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE BY MULTIPLE RUNS

MANCHESTER, N.H. (June 2-6, 1869) – At the end of May, the biggest surprise in the NBBO was Granite BC. The competition’s lone entry from New Hampshire was sitting atop New England with a 15-5 record – four games better than anyone else – after having finished the previous two seasons 29-41 & 30-40 respectively.

St. John’s, whose defense had a terrible month of May, had an opportunity to bring Granite back to the pack to begin June, as the month started with St. John’s playing five games in New Hampshire against them at the Kalivas Union Grounds.

Would Granite remain white hot, or would St. John’s do the usual and snuff out another potential New England upstart?

• GAME 1: STJ 12-5 GRA – #6 Leopold Peiffer (3B) 3/5 (all 1B), 3 R, 2 RBI
• GAME 2: STJ 8-5 GRA – #3 Tarmo Kuopio (1B) 3/5 (all 1B), 1 R, 2 RBI
• GAME 3: STJ 10-1 GRA – #3 Tarmo Kuopio (1B) 5/5, 3B, 4 R, 1 RBI
• GAME 4: STJ 11-2 GRA – #1 Will Johnson (CF) 3/6, 2B, 2 R, 1 RBI, SB
• GAME 5: STJ 9-6 GRA - #2 Nelson Townsend (OF) 2/5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB

It was a bloodbath befitting St. Johns’ main color of crimson. Across the five games the latest that Granite had a lead in any of them was at the end of the third inning of the opening game of the set, when they were ahead 2-1. Aside from that, it was all St. John’s. The visitors scored multiple runs over the opening three innings of the final four games, and Granite simply did not have a chance.

Both St. John’s regular pitchers, John Brown & Lou Sturgeon, pitched well, and the team’s defense showed improvement from the major issues they had over the first four weeks of the season. All of St. Johns’ star batsmen played well.

Before the series Granite was 15-5 with St. John’s at 11-9. After the five-game sweep St. John’s is back atop New England with a 16-9 record, while Granite is in second place at 15-10.