In a rematch from last weekend the New York Gothams, supported by a contingent of local ball players, took on the Atlantic Base Ball Club at the Smithtown Historical Society on Saturday. Pitching for the Gothams was Captain Rafael ‘Wickets’ Garcia while the lines were manned by Vincent ‘Tuna’ Aurora for the Atlantics. The matches were arbitrated by the umpire Ed ‘Pigtail’ Elmore.
This humid day began with the Gothams scoring in both the first and second innings to take a two ace lead. The Atlantic batters struck back with one ace in the third, four more in the fourth, and three more in the fifth inning to take the lead. It was singles by Sean ‘Toothpick’ Ness, Frank ‘Shakespeare’ Van Zant, Kevin ‘Flash’ Harrison followed by a triple from George ‘Wildhorse’ Ferchland to put the Atlantics ahead for good in the the fourth inning.
While it took singles by Tuna, Michael ‘Lip’ Tangel, Anthony ‘Dirty Pirate’ Cannino, followed by a double from Toothpick to go up by five runs in the fifth inning. Shakespeare led the Atlantics with three hits and an ace, while the Dirty Pirate, Toothpick and Flash each had two hits a piece. Tuna took home the 9-4 victory.
After a short recess a second match began with the Atlantic bats striking first and striking hard. Hits by Shakespeare, Flash, Wildhorse, Greg ‘Hawk’ Dengel, ‘Tricky’ Rick Stattler and Tuna got the Atlantics off to a quick five ace lead and they would need every one of them. The Gothams responded with two of their own, but the Atlantics struck again scoring another ace in the second to take a lead of 6 tallies to 2.
Then the defense got tight and neither team could generate much offense as both teams were whitewashed for the next few innings. The Atlantics scored in spurts and took a 9-2 advantage into the bottom of the eighth inning but the Manhattanites weren’t calling it quits yet. Four tallies on a combination of hits and errors in the bottom of the eighth brought the score to 9-6 and three more in the bottom of the ninth inning tied the game. With the winning run on third base with two outs for the Gothams a line drive to rightfield was caught by George ‘Blackjack’ Pappas to send it to extra innings.
There the Atlantic lineup took care of business as the Dirty Pirate singled and Toothpick hit his third double of the game. This was quickly followed by Flash’s single and Wildhorse reaching on an error. Anthony ‘Willy Mo’ Stelmach and Hawk both singled and suddenly the Atlantics were back up by four runs.
Despite scoring seven aces the last two innings the Gothams could not plate another ace and the Atlantics took the second game 13-9. Toothpick, Shakespeare and Flash led the Atlantic offense with three hits each, while Hawk struck two hits and an ace.