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CONT’L PLATES 7 IN 9TH TO TIE, 7 IN 11TH TO WIN
VISITORS WERE BEHIND 12-5 AHEAD OF 9TH; LOSING BEDFORD HAS PAIR WITH FIVE HITS

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (June 7, 1879) - For eight innings of their game against visiting Continental at the Long Island Cricket Club, Bedford had the win wrapped up all nice and neat. And then…

Bedford stepped up to the plate for B6 with a 7-4 lead and hit Continental with a five-run rally, one that had four run-scoring Singles, to give them a 12-4 lead. Continental took a run back in T7 and, after a scoreless eighth, Bedford looked unbeatable with a 12-5 lead going into the ninth inning.

Continental took their bats knowing what they needed to do to keep the game going, and they went to work. A Single by PH Ricardo Montagnani drove in Speedy Brown to make it a 12-6 game. Fellow PH Benjamin Mack hit another run-scoring Single to make it 12-7. Then SS Frazier Gillespie hit a third straight run-scoring Single to make it 12-8. After a pitching change, 2B Carrick Kennedy hit a two-run Double to halve the deficit to two (12-10). Then, substitute Theron Polymeru hit yet another run-scoring Single to make it a one-run game (12-11). Finally greenhorn RF Michael Akhverdov hit a run-scoring Infield Single that tied the game 12-12. Montagnani came up a second time, hit into a Ground Out to end T9, and Continental had completed the comeback.

Bedford stranded men on 2nd & 3rd in B9, so extra innings were needed. After a scoreless tenth, Continental came up for T11 and scored seven more times, but this time the key hit was a three-run Home Run over the short fence in Right Field by Gillespie. With a 19-12 lead, Continental was easily able to withstand two Bedford runs in B11, and an unlikely victory was theirs.

Akhverdov, the hero Gillespie, and Kennedy all had fine afternoons for Continental:

• CON RF Michael Akhverdov: 3/6 (all 1B), 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB
• CON SS Frazier Gillespie: 3/6 (HR), 2 R, 5 RBI, 6 TB, GW HR
• CON 2B Carrick Kennedy: 3/5 (2B), 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 4 TB

Meanwhile, the utter collapse by Bedford wasted a pair of five-hit games and a four-hit game by their batsmen:

• BED CF Sanford Easton: 5/7 (2B, 3B), 1 R, 3 RBI, SB, 8 TB
• BED RF George Keller: 4/6 (2B), 1 R, 4 RBI, 5 TB
• BED SS Moriarty Murray: 5/7 (3B), 2 R, 1 RBI, 7 TB

The win left Continental 12-7 and Bedford 9-10, although with the way Eckford of Greenpoint is playing (18-1, 14-game win streak) the Brooklyn standings might not matter for much longer.