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ROSS RUNS RIOT IN HOME WIN VS MERRIMACK
PIONEER 1B CLUBS TWO TRIPLES & A HOME RUN AS HOME TEAM WINS BY TEN

SPRINGFIELD, MASS. (July 3, 1874) - Merrimack Mills visited Pioneer for the second game of their series on Friday afternoon, and after a wild first inning the hosts gradually pulled away for a ten-run victory:

The contest started with pre-Independence Day fireworks, as both teams scored five times in the opening inning, with the biggest hit by either team being Pioneer SS John Sumpter’s two-run Single with two out in the bottom of the 1st.

Merrimack scored in the top of the 2nd via Error to take the lead but after that it was all Pioneer, with the hosts scoring twelve of the game’s last thirteen runs to exit with a double-digit win.

Sumpter and RF Charles Rice were both 4/6 for Pioneer, but the Player of the Game was 1B Charles Ross:

• B1: 1-run Double to LCF off C. Snow (R)
• B3: Leadoff Triple to RCF off C. Snow (R)
• B4: 1-run Double to RCF off C. Snow
• B6: 1-run Triple to RF off C. Snow (R)
• B7: SOLO HOME RUN to LF off G. Pearce (R)
• B8: Replaced by PH H. Lawrence
• TOTAL: 5/5, 5 XBH (2 2B, 2 3B, HR; tied NBBO record), 4 R, 4 RBI, 14 TB (NBBO record), 101 GMSC

It was an absurd afternoon for Pioneer’s first-year regular (two as a backup). His five Extra-base Hits tied the NBBO record, and his fourteen Total Bases broke the single-game record of eleven. The Home Run was the first of Ross’ career (265 PA), and on the whole Ross’ afternoon raised his average to .338 (.817 OPS) through 34 games played.

As far as the standings go, with Susquehanna now 32-6 the rest of the Inland Championship is virtually playing for pride with more than six weeks left in the 1874 season.