ABBC vs New London Thames

August 18	New London Thames	1861	W 10-4
		1864	W 25-2

The Atlantics turned their carriages southbound from their Providence foes of the day before and headed to New London, Connecticut where the New London Thames Base Ball Club awaited the Atlantics. The field lay by the harbor under the shadow of the large stone Fort Trumbull. The Thames preference for playing by the rules of a few years past had the Atlantics playing their first 1861 rule game of the season. In fact the Thames struck first with an ace tallied in their first at-bats while the Atlantics could not tally theirs until the bottom of the second inning. The Thames regained the lead with two aces in the fourth on a pair of solid hits to the outfield but the team from Brooklyn fought back with two of their own to once again even up the score. Finally in the sixth inning the Atlantics took advantage of the inclined outfield at the base of the wall of the fort to place the ball between the fielders and bring in five aces and a commanding lead. Although the Thames would tally once more it was too late as the Atlantics took the first match by the score of 10-4. Leading the Atlantic battery was catcher Frank 'Hammy' Obidienzo with three hits, first baseman Kevin 'Flash' Harrison with three hits including a double and a triple, and centerfielder Anthony 'Dirty Pirate' Cannino gathered two hits of his own. Excellent defense by the outfielders Sean 'Toothpick' Ness, Dirty Pirate, and Nick 'The Butcher' Baruso in a challenging field of play kept the Thames batters off of the bases. The second match was played to the rules of a more modern time, 1864, and the Atlantics showed the Thames club why this is their prefered year of play. The Atlantics scored fast with furious swings of the bat and played equally well on the grass to keep New Londons players off the bases. The final tally marks indicate a 25-2 score led by shortstop Dean 'Dreambucket' Emma with six hits including a homerun, third baseman Anthony 'Willy Mo' Stelmach with five hits, outfielders the Dirty Pirate and Toothpick with four hits each and second baseman Greg 'Hawk' Dengel with three hits. Ed 'Pigtail' Elmore pitched both games for his second and third victory of the weekend in New England and Hammy crushed a homerun down the third baseline that eluded the left fielder. The Atlantics next play on Saturday August 24th on Governor's Island in New York Harbor to take on the New York Gothams in a match to determine the best team in the city. The games begin at noon on the Parade Grounds and ferries leave both Brooklyn and Manhattan every 20 minutes.

Photo by Kevin Harrison