Pastime Baseball League
PBL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Game Six Recap
Memphis Strummers (106-56) vs Wichita Brigade (108-54)
WICHITA -- Returning home to a raucous crowd hopeful of seeing a championship, the Wichita Brigade knew they had two chances to win it. They also knew they didn't want to go to Game 7, where one bad bounce can determine your season.
Memphis' ace, Jesse Tannehill, would take the mound in an attempt to salvage his team's season. He would lock up with Al Orth, whose own strong season was lost in the shadow of Rube Waddell's performance.
Four of the series' first five games had seen a first-inning run. But it wouldn't happen here, as Orth and Tannehill matched zeroes through the first three innings.
One pitch into the fourth, Cap Anson changed that, belting Orth's first pitch out of the park to right to put Memphis up 1-0.
Wichita's penchant for scoring immediately after their opponent is well-known, but Tannehill needed only 10 pitches to set them aside in the bottom of the 4th.
Then he needed only six pitches in the fifth. He worked harder - 13 pitches - in the 7th, but retired the side in order, having retired 11 in a row.
Orth had shut down the Strummers since Anson's homer, but Tannehill showed no sign of faltering. He stretched his consecutive batters retired string to 13 before Spotswood Poles' two-out single in the 7th. Poles stole second in the middle of a 9-pitch at bat by Ollie Beard, which would culminate in a triple into the gap that scored Poles, tied the game and brought the Wichita crowd to bursting.
Tannehill got Doggie Miller to ground out to end the 7th, but left the mound visibly frustrated.
Orth turned Memphis aside in order in the 8th, and Wichita got two baserunners off Tannehill in their half but couldn't push across.
Orth issued a one-out walk to Cupid Childs in the 9th, but retired the next two to end the inning.
Strummers skipper Harry Wright pulled Tannehill after 8, bringing in closer Dick McBride to pitch the ninth.
George Davis hit a leadoff single through the hole into left. Spotswood Poles moved him over to second on a bunt, leading Wright to order the intentional walk of pinch-hitter Sammy Strang.
Doggie Miller fouled off the first two offerings from McBride. On the third pitch, he grounded a ball through the hole into left. George Davis made the turn as Josh Willingham came up throwing. But the throw was up the line, a sickened Deacon White catching it helplessly as Davis slid home to win the series for Wichita, never getting to his feet before the mob of teammates buried him at home plate, celebrating the Brigade's status as the Pastime Baseball League's first champions!
Wichita 2, Memphis 1 (Wichita wins series 4-2).