ABBC vs Fairplay Base Ball Club and Providence Grays

June 8	Fairplay Base Ball Club	1864	W 14-8
	Providence Grays	1884	W 13-12

Although threatened by flashfloods and torrential downpours the brave Fairplay Base Ball Club of Talbot Maryland traveled through the night to join the Atlantics and Providence Grays in Smithtown to celebrate together the lasting legacy of Al 'Old Dutch' Dieckmann. In a round-robin that spanned the developmental years of base ball each team played the others in turn demonstrating the game from the era of the Civil War until the building of the Statue of Liberty. The first match between the home team, Atlantics and the furthest traveling team, the Fairplays started off with a bang as the Fairplays brought their hitting shoes scoring three aces in the first and taking a four to one lead into the third inning. The Atlantics would not let the Fairplays get too far ahead scoring aces in the second, third and fourth innings but it wasn't until with the Fairplays ahead 5-3 in the seventh that that Atlantic barrage began. Five aces scored off of Fairplay pitcher Rob 'Pi' Watkins in the seventh was followed by six more in the eighth. Yet even this offensive attack was not enough to dampen the Fairplays resolve as they began their own counterassault tallying three aces in the ninth as their last hand went down by the score of 14 to 8. Dean 'Dreambucket' Emma drilled four hits around the diamond and was backed up by Sean 'Toothpick' Ness, Greg 'Hawk' Dengel and George 'Wildhorse' Ferchland with two hits each. Frank 'Hammy' Obidienzo kept the Talbot batters reaching so the Atlantic defense could do its job. On the other side the Fairplays displayed fine defense by their short shortstop Brian Lynch and third baseman Joe Jordan forcing the Atlantic bats to find small holes in their defense. Fairplays catcher Brett 'Jailer' Cover had some fine hands behind the plate nabbing many a ticked sphere for a FB2 to the shagrin of many an Atlantic batter. The middle game featured the two visiting squads playing an 1864 game. The Talbot team lead after one inning by the score of four to two. The New Englanders had their way in the second and third innings scoring five aces each time. Good defense kept the scoring down after that until the final inning where some sloppy defense allowed more Gray aces. The middle game went to Providence by the score of 15-9. The third match was between the Atlantics and Providence in an 1884 game. Frank 'Shakespeare' Van Zant went to the chalk box in the middle of the field to represent the Atlantics while Matt 'Krawler' Kouyoumdjian started behind the plate. Opposing them was Charlie 'Suds' Dryer and Tony Hoffmann from the Grays. This back and forth contest saw scoring in almost every inning. The Grays and Atlantics were tied after one and the Grays lead 6-4 after three innings had passed. One run for the Grays in the top of the sixth followed by two Atlantic runs in the bottom saw the score tied again. With runs in the seventh and three in the eighth the Atlantics thought they had sealed the victory. But these Grays showed much gumption by hitting hard the pitches of a tiring Shakespeare to score four aces in the ninth and extend the game. Never giving up the Grays then took the lead in the top of the tenth. This time a tiring Suds had to face the top of the Atlantic lineup but only saw the first three batters. Toothpick and Shakespeare reached base and were promptly sent home as Dreambucket hit a game-winning drive into the right-centerfield treeline. This match went to the Atlantics 13-12 in the 10th inning. The Atlantics travel to Newtown Connecticut tomorrow to play the Sandy Hooks at McLaughlin Vineyards in a double-header beginning at 10:30 AM.

Photos by Scott Martino