[tm1681]

AMERICAN HAS TWO FIVE-HIT STARS AT KNICK
BUSBY & PRINCE BOTH FINISH 5/6; PRINCE ADDS SEVEN RBI’S IN BIG WIN AT ELYSIAN FIELDS

MANHATTAN (May 20, 1875) - American needed a win in the final game of their series at Knickerbocker to go above .500, and they were more than up to the task in a ten-run victory at the Elysian Fields:

With the game 1-1 at the start of the 3rd inning, American scored three times and never looked back, adding four more in the top of the 4th to take an 8-2 lead. With two more runs in T6 it was 10-2, and after a Knick run in B6 American scored three more runs during their next time at bat to go ahead 13-3 and seal the win.

American’s two biggest stars, James Burke & Franklin Petty, were collectively okay. Burke hit 2/4 and Petty was 1/6, but that wasn’t a problem as two other members of the American lineup had five hits each.

First up: William Busby, now in his eleventh year as American’s 1B. He was 5/6 with the bat (all Singles), and he didn’t drive in any runs Busby scored four times on the afternoon.

Next up: Martin Prince, American’s third-year SS who took Player of the Game honors with his performance:

• T1: 1-run Single to CF off B. Landreth
• T3: 1-run Single past 2B off B. Landreth
• T4: 3-run Double to RCF off B. Landreth (R)
• T6: 1-run Double to LF off B. Landreth (R)
• T7: 1-run Infield Single off A. Bird
• T9: Fly Out to CF (1 out)
• TOTAL: 5/7 (2 2B, 7 TB), 2 R, 7 RBI, 100 GMSC

The seven Runs Batted In were a career high for the defensive wizard, and Prince’s 100 Game Score was the first triple-digit mark in the A.P.B.L. this season. Pince entered the game batting just .222 (.500 OPS), but left it batting .275 (.629 OPS) with thirteen RBI through American’s first fifteen games.

The final left both teams’ records at 8-7, part of a three-way tie with Gotham for 2nd in the Metropolitan Conference.