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KOLHBERG CRACKS FIVE HITS IN BIG ST. JOHN’S WIN
2B’S FIVE-HIT DAY INCLUDES GAME-WINNING HIT IN 10TH AT FLOUR CITY

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Aug. 13, 1873) - St. John’s & Flour City are currently in the middle of an extremely important series between the top two teams in the Colonial Conference. If St. John’s wins all three games they exit the series enjoying an eight-game lead with nine games to play, and if Flour City sweeps they decrease the lead possessed by the perennial postseason players to two games with eight left.

Game One was a solid Flour City victory. Led by the pitching of Jonathan Goodman and the 3/5 batting of CF Ernest Dugas (2B, 3B, 3 R, 2 RBI), the hosts won 9-5 and ended Tuesday four games behind St. John’s.

Wednesday’s game was an outstanding contest that needed additional innings to decide a winner:

Not that it looked like it was going to go to Extra Innings. Thanks to a Passed Ball that plated a run with two out, St. John’s exited their half of the 9th inning with a 9-4 lead. In the bottom of the 9th Flour City proceeded to uncork a five-run rally, with a Sacrifice Fly, a one-run Single by 1B Chris Carlson, a 1-run Error, a Passed Ball, and another one-run Single by substitute P John Murphy turning the five-run deficit into a 9-9 game.

St. John’s, veterans of so many pressure-packed situations, weren’t fazed by their collapse in the bottom of the 9th, responding to the Flour City rally by scoring four runs in the top of the 10th, with the key hits being a two-run Single by 2B Theodore Kohlberg and a two-run Double by C Falco van der Vaart. Ahead 13-9, St. John’s sub P William Titus allowed a run with one out before setting down Flour City on a pair of fly balls, and St. John’s had taken a massive win in Rochester.

St. John’s didn’t get major production from their usual stars. 1B Mario Fusilli was 0/5, and both Konrad Jensen & Nelson Townsend were 1/5 with a Base on Balls. Instead, the Player of the Game was Kohlberg:

• STJ #5 Theodore Kohlberg (2B): 5/6 (all 1B), 2 R, 3 RBI, GW HIT

The clutch performance pushed Kohlberg’s average up to .340 (.757 OPS), which will be the highest of his fourteen-year career between the NBBO & APBL if it holds over the final week and a half. His 72 Runs Batted In are also a massive improvement over his previous career best: 54 for Atlantic in 1863. In addition, his 48 Stolen Bases are threatening his career high of 53, set in 1871 while playing for Kings County in the inaugural season of the APBL.

With ten games left in the season, the Colonial Conference looks like this:

• #1: St. John’s at 48-32
• #2: Flour City at 43-37 (5 GB)
• #3: Shamrock at 41-39 (7 GB)
• #4: Niagara at 40-40 (8 GB)

After tomorrow St. Johns’ final three series are at home against Niagara, at Shamrock, and at Alleghany. A win tomorrow should just about wrap up yet another pennant for the 6x champions of baseball.