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MURRAY MASTERFUL AS ECKFORD BATTERS BEDFORD
1875 & ‘76 TotY MEMBER HAS FIVE HITS & SIX RBI AS HIS TEAM WINS BY NINETEEN

BROOKLYN (May 12, 1877) - Since the league split in 1871 it has been a rare sight for Eckford of Greenpoint to be under .500, even early in the season. So, after losing two of their first three games at Bedford during the season-opening series they decided to make absolutely sure they wouldn’t make it three losses in four:

It was an even 3-3 game after the end of the 2nd inning, but then Eckford scored the final nineteen runs to exit 22-3 victors and remind their hosts just why they’ve won four of the last five Brooklyn championships.

Longtime Eckford star and 2x N.Y.L. Most Valuable Player Isaac Kelly had an excellent afternoon…

• EXC 3B Isaac Kelly: 4/6 (2 2B, 6 TB), 1 R, 6 RBI, 1 BB, 78 GMSC

…but it was leadoff man Louis Murray, member of the last two N.Y.L. Teams of the Year, who put in the performance of the afternoon for Eckford:

• T1: Leadoff Infield Single to 2B off C. Randazzo (SB, R)
• T2: 1-run Double to RCF off C. Randazzo (SB, R)
• T3: 1-run Single past 1B off C. Randazzo (R)
• T4: 3-run Triple to CF off C. Randazzo (R)
• T5: 1-run Infield Single to 3B off D. Davidson
• T7: Replaced by PH M. Tavarez
• TOTAL: 5/5 (2B, 3B, 8 TB), 4 R, 6 RBI, 2 SB, 110 GMSC

Murray had a 5/5 game with three Extra-Base Hits, four Runs, and six RBI, and he easily could have done more damage had he not been substituted out when it was his turn to bat during the top of the seventh because Eckford scored six more runs during the 8th & 9th. As it was, Murray finished with a 110 Game Score that will likely stand as one of the top five performances of the 1877 N.B.B.O. season after the Tucker-Wheaton Cup final ends in early September.

Eckford & Bedford have split the first four games of their Week One series, with the decider taking place at 2:10 P.M. on Sunday at the Long Island Cricket Club. Pitchers will be William Barnhill for Eckford and William McMahon for Bedford.