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GENTILUCCI 3RD THIS YEAR WITH 40-GAME HIT STREAK
’76 1ST SEASON EVER WITH TRIO OF STREAKS; GENTILUCCI 2ND WITH TWO 40-GAME RUNS

PORTLAND, MAINE (Aug. 3, 1876) - Quinnipiac B.C. fell out playoff contention yesterday, but their team still have something to play for thanks to the efforts of 1B William Gentilucci.

On Thursday, Quinnipiac played the second game of their series at Portland, who is still in the New England pennant hunt, and lost 5-4 on a walkoff Single by 3B Jonathan Weaver. However, since Quinnipiac was playing for pride the result came secondary to the batting outcomes of 1B William Gentilucci, who entered the contest with a 39-game Hitting Streak.

Gentilucci’s first turn with the bat ended with a flyball out to Left Field, his second ended with a line-drive out to the Shortstop, and his third ended with a ground-ball out to the Second Baseman. In the top of the 7th Gentilucci came to bat fourth time and hit a two-run Double to the outfield gap, bringing his Hitting Streak to the historic 40-game milestone. Gentilucci would then begin the top of the 9th with a Single.

In reaching forty games, Gentilucci became the third player this season with a Hitting Streak of 40+ games:

• #1: 45 games by Ned Morganti (Quaker St.) during 1875-76 (ended May 20)
• #2: 43 games by William Sudduth (Merrimack) during 1875-76 (ended May 27)
• #3: 40 games by William Gentilucci (Quinnipiac) during 1876 (ongoing)

A trio of 40-game Hitting Streaks in one season is an N.B.B.O. first. Previously, 1876 had shared honors with 1869 & 1874 as the only seasons in N.B.B.O. history during which two players had Hitting Streaks reach 40+ games.

Gentilucci’s streak is the eleventh in N.B.B.O. history to reach the forty-game mark, and he also becomes the second player in N.B.B.O. history with a pair of forty-game Hitting Streaks during the course of his career, joining Ned Morganti:

• #1: 67 games by Peter Huff (Union) during 1871 (ended Aug. 5)
• #2: 49 games by Remi Scrovegni (Frontier) during 1874 (ended Aug. 5)
• #3: 45 games by Ned Morganti (Quaker St.) during 1875-76 (ended May 20, 1876)
• #4: 43 games by William Sudduth (Merrimack) during 1875-76 (ended May 27, 1876)
• #5: 42 games by William Gentilucci (Nassau Co.) during 1870 (ended July 20)
• #6: 42 games by Cormack Alexander (K.C. & Q.S.) during 1867-68 (ended May 22, 1868)
• #7: 41 games by Franklin Petty (Lake Erie) during 1869 (ended July 7)
• #8: 41 games by William McQuaid (Flour City) during 1862-63 (ended June 28, 1863)
• #9: 40 games by Henry Nabors (Victory during 1868-69 (ended May 22, 1869)
• #10: 40 games by Ned Morganti (Quaker St.) during 1873-74 (ended June 17, 1874)
• #11: 40 games by William Gentilucci (Quinnipiac) during 1876 (ongoing)

Gentilucci still has three more games to hit safely if he wants to surpass his career-best Hitting Streak of 42 games, which he achieved while playing for Nassau County during his .400 season of 1870 (AVG: .401; N.Y.L. Team of the Year at LF).

Milestones set aside, the win kept Portland five games behind New England leaders Sons of the Ocean with eight games remaining. They finish the season against Cantabrigians (33-29), while S.o.t.O. plays at Salem (28-34).