[tm1681]

BODIL HANSEN HAS SEASON’S FIRST SIX-HIT GAME
INFIELDER BATS 6/6 WITH THREE XBH, BUT C&A COMES UP JUST SHORT AT ESSEX CO.

LAWRENCE, MASS. (June 9, 1880) - Essex County and Camden & Amboy are facing each other at the Haverhill Street Grounds for Week Five of the C.B.C. season, and the two teams put on an exciting contest for the 2,300 Lawrence residents in attendance:

There were three key innings in the game: the first, the sixth, & the eighth.

C. & A. started the proceedings with a pair of Runs in T1 on a two-run Single by CF William Davis. The hosts answered immediately with their own pair in B1 on a Single by 2B James Perrault and a run-scoring Ground Out that made it a 2-2 contest. Most of the next four innings went by without incident, with the exception an Essex Co. run B3 via Base on Balls that put them ahead 3-2.

With the score 3-2 to Essex Co., the visitors stepped to the plate for T6 scored three times to go ahead 5-3, with the Runs scoring on a Passed Ball, a Single by 1B Jerald Coleman, and a Triple by 2B Bodil Hansen. However, the hosts responded with a four-run rally in B6 on two run-scoring Singles, a Wild Pitch, & a Double by RF Rens van Veldhuizen to take the lead back (5-7). Then, Davis hit a Home Run for C. & A. during T7 to make it a one-run game (6-7).

The final key inning was the eighth, and C. &. A. started it with a three-run rally to force another lead change. They tied the game (7-7) on another Triple from Hansen, took the lead (8-7) on a Single by C Jonathan Brumback, and increased the lead to two (9-7) on a Sacrifice Fly. Unfortunately for the visitors, Essex Co. cancelled those three runs out with a trio of their own in B8, making it a one-run game (9-8) on a Single by 1B James Baker and then taking the lead (9-10) on a two-run Error by the C. &. A. First Baseman.

After all that excitement C. & A. came up for T9, and with two out Hansen struck a hard-hit Single to Right-Center Field. With substitute Charles van Dyke heading for home Essex Co. CF Martin Markovich threw a dart to the Catcher that beat van Dyke, and when the tag was applied the hosts had escaped with a 10-9 victory.

Unfortunately for Hansen, being robbed of a game-tying RBI during the top of the ninth inning was quite unfair, for the Single he hit with two out made him the first six-hit man anywhere in baseball so far in 1880:

• T1: Single to LCF off J. Lockhart (R)
• T3: Double to ECF off J. Lockhart
• T5: Infield Single to SS off J. Lockhart
• T6: 1-run Triple to RCF off J. Lockhart
• T8: 1-run Triple to RCF off J. Lockhart (R)
• T9: Single to RCF off C. Shultis
• TOTAL: 6/6 (2B, 2 3B), 2 R, 2 RBI, 11 TB – 76 GMSC (BAT: #2)

Hansen’s eleven Total Bases were the most by a batsman in the 2+ years of C.B.C. play, and the 6/6 outing raised his Batting Average to .333 (.821 OPS) with 21 Runs, 11 RBI, and 1.2 WAR through the first 21 games of the season.

The result left both teams a surprising 15-6 and part of a three-way tie for first atop the Coastal Baseball Conference with defending champions Bridgeport. Of the three, Bridgeport has the best Run Differential at +55.