Three pitchers and eight runs weren't quite enough for the Crimson to win Wednesday afternoon at Soldiers Field as an all-star service team made up of Army men from forts in the Boston Harbor Defense Area edged the Stahlmen in a slug-fest by a 9-8 score. It was the second loss in as many games for the team, bringing their record for the summer season to three wins and five losses.
Although the Crimson's eight run total would make it seem that they had come out of the batting doldrums, actually the team could garner only five hits from the offerings of the opposition pitchers.
Nine Walks for Crimson
It was only the inability of the soldier-pitching to locate the plate, resulting in nine walks, that enabled the Crimson to stay in the ball game. And stay in the game they did, with the lead changing hands six times in all; it wasn't until the seventh inning that the winners grabbed the lead for keeps.
The Crimson got off flying in the first inning with a 2-0 lead, with Bart Harvey's theft of second featuring the rally. This achievement was only the first of many for the Crimson captain, who had his biggest day of the year with two stolen bases (both of them resulting in runs), three hits for four at-bats and two runs carried personally over the plate.
Harvey Drives in Runs
Harvey's hits were also influential in the runs-batted-in department, since his sixth inning single was the blow that scored runners from second and third to put the Crimson one up, after trailing by 7-6.
Coach Stahl used three pitchers in his attempt to stop the hard hitting soldiers, many of whom had played Class-A ball in pre-war days. His starter was Jim Phelan, who had his stuff but no control. After walking three men in two and one-third innings, he was lifted in favor of Freshman Jack Stanton.
Stanton Hit Hard
Stanton got through the third, but was blasted for five runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Coach Stahl substituted Sophomore Irv Rudman in the Soldiers' big seventh, but the loss was charged to Stanton, who had put the winning runs on the bases, one through a walk, the other through his own error on a bunt.
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