A well placed single by Bill O'Neill in the last of the fourteenth driving in Bill Ayres from second base was enough to break up a scoreless tie with the Boston Coast Guard last Saturday at Soldiers Field. Jack Wallace's superlative four-hit pitching effort throttled the sailors for the entire afternoon and gave Coach Floyd Stahl his first victory of 1945 in the season's home opener.
For the Coast Guard, it was a bitter loss. Two pitchers had shared the visitors' mound duty and pitched as well as Wallace but failed to nail down the last man. Added to the astonishing facts of the victory was the decision to call the game at the end of the fourteenth.
Harvard threatened several times in the later innings. In the ninth Arnie Closky, trying to score after the catch was nailed at home when Lackey's fly failed to get far beyond the infield. Again in the eleventh, the Crimson left several runners stranded.
At the end of the thirteenth, Coach Stahl and the Coast Guardsmen decided to end the struggle after the next inning. Leading off in the last of the fourteenth, shortstop Closky reached first when his grounder was thrown wide of first base. Bill Ayres, who had taken over Jim Fava's first base post in the twelfth, also rolled to the infield but reached first on a fielder's choice. As backstop Mel Lackey went down on strikes for the second out, Ayres pilfered second, placing himself in scoring position.
Rightfielder Bill O'Neill then slapped a two pitch over third and along the left field line. It might have been a single; it might have been a double. Nobody noticed, for Ayres, flying around third, crossed the plate standing up to end the overtime struggle.
It was as sweet a triumph for winner Jack Wallace as it was bitter for the pair of Coast Guard moundsmen. Through 14 innings of scoreless ball, Wallace allowed only four hits, walked only seven, while striking out 15. Although the defense behind him was somewhat shaky at the start, it tightened up considerably in the later innings.
The close encounter came as somewhat of a surprise to everyone who had seen the previous games between the two clubs. In two practice encounters played earlier this spring, the sailors had first been overpowered 14 to 4 and had come back a week later to turn the tables on the Crimson 12 to 5.
With their season's record now standing even at one win and one loss, the Stahlmen are preparing for their second home game tomorrow afternoon. Although from Quonset, the visitors will not be the Naval fliers who downed Harvard 15-3 to open the season, but instead the Carrier Air Station Unit located there.
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