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NAT’L PAIR POUND OUT FIVE HITS EACH ON OPENING DAY
BELL & GENTILE RAVAGE DIAMOND ST. PITCHING IN DC; DUDEK ADDS FOUR RBI IN BIG HOME WIN

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 14, 1879) - National Baseball Club began their Coastal Championship title defense against Diamond State at George Washington Stadium on Tuesday, and they started it in style with a twelve-run win:

The hosts were never in any trouble here. They scored four times in B1, the big moment a two-run Double by 2B Chester Dudek, to take a quick 4-0 lead. After Diamond St. cut the lead to one (4-3) in T3, National scored twice in B3 and then responded to another Diamond St. run in T4 with another pair of scores to take am 8-4 lead.

From there on National’s lead only grew bigger, and they scored during each of their final four trips to the plate, with runs on base hits by C Oscar Harrington & LF Frank Bell during B8 giving the game its final score of 18-6.

The run-scoring Single in the eighth gave Bell, a Greenhorn who was making his debut, five Hits on the day, and he was one of two National batsmen to accomplish the feat.

Bell’s afternoon:

• B1: Pop Fly Out to SS (2 out)
• B3: 1-run Single to LCF off K. Stingley
• B5: Leadoff Single past 2B off K. Stingley (R)
• B6: 1-run Triple to RF off W. Stone (R)
• B7: Double to LF off W. Stone (R)
• B8: Single past 2B off W. Stone
• TOTAL: 5/6 (2B, 3B), 3 R, 2 RBI, 8 TB

The other National man with five Hits was SS James Gentile:

• B1: Single past SS off K. Stingley (R)
• B2: Double past 3B off K. Stingley
• B4: Leadoff Single past SS off K. Stingley (R)
• B5: 1-run Single past 2B off K. Stingley (R)
• B6: Single past SS off W. Stone
• B7: Reached via Base on Balls by W. Stone
• B8: Pop Fly Out to 3B (3 out)
• TOTAL: 5/6 (2B), 3 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 6 TB

As for first-inning hero Dudek, he also had a fine day:

• NAT 2B Chester Dudek: 3/6 (2B), 3 R, 4 RBI, 4 TB

For Bell, it was the perfect way to begin his career. For Gentile, it was the ideal way to break in what he wishes is his third straight season of offensive improvement. Finally, National will hope that Dudek’s afternoon is a good omen that this will be the 24-year-old’s breakout season in the middle of the lineup.

For National as a whole, it was a perfect Opening Day.