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TWO OF THE BEST PERFORAMNCES OF ’80 ON WED.
EDWARDS HAS SIX HITS; WOLFF FUELS BIG MERRIMACK VICTORY; SYRACUSE WINS WILD GAME

NORTHEAST U.S.A. (July 21, 1880) - There were three games & performances of note across the N.B.B.O. on Wednesday afternoon, as Week Eleven of the 1880 season got underway.

First, Granite & Quinnipiac opened their series at the Kalivas Union Grounds in Manchester, New Hampshire, and the visitors exited with a nine-run win thanks to a barrage of early scoring:

Quinnipiac took control of the contest straight away, scoring four times in T1 on Singles by LF Francis Edwards, CF Charles Thomas, & 3B Columbus Young, with the fourth Run coming in via the rare but most exciting of happenings: a successful Squeeze Play by SS Moody Steiger, who laid down a perfect bunt with Claude Owens flying in from Third Base.

Quinnipiac added two Runs in the 2nd on an Error and a Triple by Thomas, and another Run in T3 on a Single by Owens made it 7-0 to the visitors. That was easily enough for the Win since Quinnipiac #1 Vilhelm Adriansen was in fine form…

• QUI P Vilhelm Adriansen: CG W (17-13), 9.0 IP, 10 HA, 2 ER/1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

…but they added four more scores over the course of the remaining six innings to exit with an 11-2 victory.

The visitors actually should have scored more during the game because they finished with an even twenty Hits on the afternoon. However, they stranded a dozen men on the basepaths. Still, a nine-run away win is nothing to complain about, and one player in particular, LF Francis Edwards, had a spectacular day in New Hampshire:

• T1: 1-run Single to RCF off C. Dempsey (R)
• T2: Single to LCF off C. Dempsey (R)
• T4: Double past 1B off C. Dempsey
• T6: Leadoff Double to RCF off C. Dempsey (R)
• T7: 1-run Triple to LCF off J. Schlitz
• T9: 1-run Single past 2B off J. Schlitz
• TOTAL: 6/6 (2 2B, 3B), 3 R, 3 RBI, 10 TB – 90 GMSC (BAT: 5th)

Wednesday’s game at Granite may well have been the coming out party for the 22-year-old Greenhorn. Having entered 1880 as one of the top Batsman prospects in the N.B.B.O., Edwards has quietly spent nearly the entire campaign batting well over .300. Through 51 games of his debut season, Edwards is batting .368 (.860 OPS) with 46 Runs, 17 Extra-Base Hits (14 2B, 3 3B), 24 RBI, and 1.9 WAR. While he’s been light on run production, the lineup around Edwards hasn’t provided much help as Quinnipiac ranks 44th in the N.B.B.O. in Runs per Game. Still, Edwards should make it to the All-Star Game as a Greenhorn.

The result left Quinnipiac 5th in New England at 24-27 and Granite tied for last at 20-31. Not that either team’s record matters much, as Portland is currently an unbelievable 42-9 and clear atop the New England standings by no less than 14.5 games.

The next contest of interest took place in Lowell, Massachusetts, where Merrimack Mills hosted Inland leaders Scranton. The result of that game was something few, if any, expected: an eighteen-run Merrimack victory:

This was no contest. Merrimack scored twice in B1, and that ended up being the start of an absolute annihilation as Merrimack would go on to score the game’s first nineteen Runs before Scranton scratched a meaningless tally mark on the board in T9.

The hosts finished with nineteen Hits, and while three of their Batsmen had three each it was their leadoff man, RF Michael Wolff, who had by far the biggest impact on the proceedings:

• MM RF Michael Wolff: 3/6 (all 1B), 5 R, 6 RBI, 1 BB – 94 GMSC (BAT: 2nd)

One might be wondering how Wolff managed to score five times and drive in six on just three Hits. First, Wolff scored after all three of his Hits, the Base on Balls he drew, and the time he reached base via Error. Also, Wolff ended the game with six Runs Batted In because each of his three Hits was a two-run Single.

Wednesday’s brilliant performance left Wolff a .309 hitter (.800 OPS) on the season, with 49 Runs, 31 RBI, and 1.6 WAR while having played in 46 of Merrimack’s 51 games. So far, the second-year Outfielder is having a better season than his Greenhorn campaign of last year.

Merrimack’s win knocked Scranton out of the top spot in the Inland Standings due to Pioneer’s 5-4 win vs Lake Erie. Pioneer is currently 30-20 vs Scranton’s 30-21, with Pioneer having played one fewer game due to a scheduled contest between Merrimack & Pioneer on June 13th being rained out. That game will be made up next week. The result also pulled Merrimack back to .500 at 25-25, which sees them 6th in Inland but only five games out of first.

Finally, in Upstate New York leaders Utica hosted Syracuse at Conkling Field, and the result was a wild 19-15 Syracuse victory in which the teams combined to pound out 45 Hits (SYR: 24, UTI: 21).

The final score was a bit of a stunner, as both teams had their highly talented #1’s working with the ball. Still, it was a bloodbath for the starting Pitchers:

• SYR P Jacob Wesolowski: W (18-13), 6.0 IP, 14 HA, 9 RA/2 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
• UTI P Alexander Verde: L (17-12), 2.1 IP, 11 HA, 12 RA/2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Given the amount of Hits, it should come as no surprise that here were a number of outstanding performances by the Batsmen:

• SYR 1B Howard Newton: 5/6 (all 1B), 3 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB – PotG
• SYR 3B Arvid Walters: 4/6 (2B), 2 R, 1 RBI, 5 TB
• SYR RF Lon Duffy: 3/4 (2B), 2 R, 1 RBI, 4 TB, SAC FLY
• UTI C William Shallit: 4/6 (2B), 1 R, 4 RBI, 5 TB
• UTI 3B William Ioffe: 3/6 (2B), 2 R, 4 RBI, 2 K, 4 TB
• UTI SS John Stupar: 3/5 (all 1B), 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 K
• UTI RF John Norris: 3/6 (all 1B), 4 R, 1 RBI

Utica, now 29-22, remained two games in front of the Upstate pack in spite of the loss, as second-place Eagle lost at Frontier. Meanwhile, the win moved Syracuse into a tie for fourth with Victory at 26-25 (3 GB). Currently, the whole of Upstate is separated by just seven games from top to bottom.