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GAMEDAY ONE (Wed. August 11th)

ALL 7-5 KNI – OF Royal Altman (ALL): 4/5, 3B, 2 R, 2 SB
F.C. 6-4 STJ – CF Obelix Tsiaris (F.C.): 4/5, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB
SHA 12-11 K.C. – OF James Burke (SHA): 4/5, 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB

The cup started with an excellent comeback win by Alleghany in Manhattan. Behind 5-1 after six innings, the team scored four times in the 7th – the key hit a three-run double by CF Joe Thatcher – to tie the game and then twice more in the 8th to go ahead. Thirty-game winner John Henry had trouble in the 9th but held Knickerbocker scoreless to preserve the win.

A four-run 6th inning aided by a two-run Tsiaris single – part of a four-hit afternoon – propelled Flour City to victory in their first cup game in five years. Thirty-game winner James Goodman was steady, allowing nine hits and three Earned Runs while sitting down four St. John’s batsmen via strikes as he earned his first career TWC victory after six losses.

What looked like an easy Shamrock victory in Brooklyn became anything but, thanks to Kings Co.’s flurry of eight runs over the final two innings before Bengt Laudrup came in to save Shamrock’s hides by getting the final two outs. Burke, William Gillette, James Johnson, William McCrory, & James Simon all had multiple hits for the winners.

GAMEDAY TWO (Thu. August 12th)

KNI 7-8 SHA – OF William McCrory (SHA): 2/5, 2B, 3B, 1 R, 1 RBI
STJ 14-10 K.C. – OF Konrad Jensen (STJ): 2/5, HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 SB
ALL 10-2 F.C. – SS Gerald Strong (ALL): 2/5, 3B, 3 R, SB

McCrory was the PotG but 1B James Johnson was the “Hero of the Game” for Shamrock, as it was his single with one out in the bottom of the 8th that drove in McCrory for the winning run. The late run spoiled a fine team effort by Knickerbocker in which five players had multiple hits and they hung seven Earned Runs on Thomas Smith (21-7, 2.46 ERA).

As expected, hard-hitting offense was the theme for Kings Co. v St. John’s and Jensen started it almost immediately with a two-run homer in the top of the 1st, his 3rd career TWC round-tripper. The score 6-5 after the 5th, St. John’s would put the game away by scoring twice in each of their final four trips to bat, which was too much for Kings Co. to overcome.

Alleghany pounded Flour City #2 Preston Lilly to the tune of nine runs over three innings before Mgr. Arvin Ridley decided he needed help. Sub P Walter LaFuze was excellent, allowing just a run on two hits over six innings, but the damage had already been done and the visitors were able to coast to an easy victory to move to 2-0.

GAMEDAY THREE (Fri. August 13th)

F.C. 1-3 KNI – SS Edward Huntley (KNI): 2/4, 2B, 3B, 1 R, 2 RBI
STJ 9-10 SHA (11 Inn.) – OF James Burke (SHA): 2/4, 2B, 3B, 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
K.C. 10-9 ALL – OF James Hoyt (K.C.): 2/2, 3 SAC’s, 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI

James Goodman was great at Knickerbocker – 8 IP, 9 HA, 1 ER, 3 K – but Peadar Daly was even better, allowing just five hits – all singles – against the NYL’s best offense in a tense & tight contest at the Elysian Fields. Huntley, a career .405 hitter over 56 postseason games, drove in Knickerbocker’s insurance run with a double in the bottom of the 7th.

The defense that troubled St. John’s all season – NEL: 12th in E’s, 15th in ZR, 15th in dEFF – reared its ugly head late at Shamrock. With two outs in the bottom of the 9th a Passed Ball allowed James Burke to score, tying the game 9-9. Two innings later, an error by 3B Leopold Pfeiffer let James Johnson in for the winning run in the extra-inning contest.

One 10-9 game deserved another, but the visiting team won this one in Pittsburgh to give Kings Co. their 1st win and Alleghany their 1st loss. Hoyt was a brilliant team player here, as in addition to his two hits he laid down a pair of Sacrifice Bunts and hit a Sacrifice Fly. The result spoiled a three-RBI afternoon by Collin Henderson.

By the end of Gameday Three Shamrock was the only 3-0 team, and nobody was without a victory.

GAMEDAY FOUR (Sat. August 14th)

K.C. 8-11 SHA – SS Anthony Mascherino (SHA): 2/4, 2B, 2 R, 4 RBI, 3 SB
STJ 10-8 F.C. (11 Inn.) – CF William Johnson (STJ): 3/6, 2 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB
KNI 17-5 ALL – C Morris Jennings (KNI): 3/5, 3 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB

Late runs – half a dozen over the 7th & 8th – kept Shamrock undefeated, as clutch batting by the middle of their lineup overcame more struggles by Thomas Smith. Mascherino was PotG, but James Burke put in another great performance: 2/5, three runs, one driven in, and a trio of stolen bases to put him at seven after just four cup games.

Preston Lilly fared better in his second TWC outing, but a two-run double by SS John Baddley in extra innings after Lilly had left the game gave St. John’s the win in Rochester. St. John’s was an absolute terror on the basepaths, with seven different players combining to steal a cup record ten bases. Flour City C Lorenzo Bradford will probably have nightmares.

It was a classic Knickerbocker performance in Pittsburgh, as they hammered Alleghany #2 Robert Dozier and substitute Robert Franklin to even their record. Jennings was given the PotG honor, but he, Charlie Greaves, Edward Huntley, Paul LaGuerre, & Jerald Peterson all had 3+ hits in what was a truly dominant team outing.

Shamrock remained the only undefeated team after Gameday Four, while a pair of teams were 1-3.

GAMEDAY FIVE (Sun. August 15th)

SHA 7-9 F.C. – OF James Burke (SHA) – 3/5, 2B, 3B, 3 R, 3 RBI, SB
ALL 7-4 STJ – P John Brown (ALL): CG, 10 HA, 4 R/ER, 1 BB, 3 K
KNI 10-9 K.C. – SS Edward Huntley (KNI): 5/5, 2 2B, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 SB

The NBBO’s best team desperately needed a win to close out the first half of the competition, and James Goodman grabbed one for Flour City to hand Shamrock their first loss. Shamrock mounted a 9th-inning rally, but the five-run deficit was too much to erase. The loss overshadowed another mesmerizing performance by Burke – his 3rd PotG honor in five games.

Aside from allowing four runs in the 8th John Brown was outstanding at St. John’s, as the NBBO’s first 700-run team was held scoreless with just five hits over the other eight frames. By the time St. John’s was able to get on the scoreboard it was too late, as Alleghany had a 7-0 lead and was in complete control.

Huntley put in a marvelous performance for victorious Knickerbocker, but he needed assistance. With one out in the top of the 9th C Morris Jennings hit a Sacrifice Fly to bring home CF Charlie Greaves, and that was the game-winner as Tim McNaughton put K.C. down 1-2-3 in the bottom half. K.C. now has a mountain to climb to contend for the cup.

The standings after Gameday Five of the Tucker-Wheaton Cup were as follows:

TEAM			W	L	 R	RA	 RD
SHAMROCK		4	1	48	44	 +4
KNICKERBOCKER	        3	2	42	30	+12
ALLEGHANY		3	2	38	38	  0
ST. JOHN’S		2	3	41	41	  0
FLOUR CITY		2	3	26	34	 -8
KINGS COUNTY	        1	4	48	56	 -8

The standings display a leader in Shamrock and a loser in Kings County, but looks can be deceiving as the Run Differential table shows there was no dominant or meek team over the first five days. Indeed, two of K.C.’s losses were by a single run and two of Shamrock’s wins were by a lone run. The one team that had not been in a one-run game was Flour City.

The only real surprise over the first five days was that, by and large, the Flour City offense that hit .319 and scored an NYL-best 622 runs (8.9 R/G) during the season had failed to show up, as they posted a cup-high nine runs and fourteen hits in the much-needed win over Shamrock on Gameday Five. Obelix Tsiaris was their only player batting .300.

The best player of the first half of the competition? A 1A/1B between James Burke & Edward Huntley. Burke was 13/23 with thirteen runs and eight stolen bases for the leaders as he ran riot in the basepaths. Meanwhile, Huntley was batting like a man possessed: 15/23 (.652) with five doubles, a pair of triples, and an absurd OPS of 1.723. He was somehow one-upping the performance from his previous cup appearance in 1867 (10 G: 20/45, 1.245 OPS, 9 XBH, 14 R, 13 RBI).